Tag: Islam

Sad remembrance


Our country was still reeling from the impact and the horror that had happened only a few hours before at this particular time fourteen years ago. Most of us were in shock. Not wanting to believe what our eyes were seeing and hearing on television or radio that morning, yet it had happened.

America had been attacked on her own soil, in the very heart of one of the most populated and celebrated cities, New York City. Yes, it was a sneak attack, an unprovoked attack from our point of view. Why? was the question that everyone wanted an answer to, but that answer even today is elusive. Theories abound but no real solid answers have been given or found in the years since.

How can we get past this point? There is no specific nation to look toward as the instigator of this, the reason…if there is one is based in religion, just one religion. Islam.

The word itself in Arabic means literally “submission to God”. A fairly benign statement that many believers both Muslim and non-Muslim can agree on. Christians, Jews and Muslims can relate to this as being the path to Life eternal.”What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3

In all three of those religions, belief and submission are almost synonymous, and yet each treats the other very differently. Religion has caused all sorts of pain and suffering in the past as it does today. Yet, we should be looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith for the Truth and that is Jesus. He brought the Truth of God to us because, as John puts it: “The Word was God and became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His Glory.” John 1:14

We are remembering the act of terror, aggression and war that was committed fourteen years ago today, but we have not turned to the One Who can give us peace in our souls and love toward those who intend to do us harm. Oh, for a few days and weeks we did go to churches and worship places and implored with God to show us why this had to happen. Most people didn’t recognize the answer that we got which was “to get your attention”!

It had to be done so that we would, as a nation, turn to God and repent of our sinful ways. But, we didn’t do that. We took it as a slap in the face and with anger we rose up as a nation, almost as they did in 1941, and we struck at those who had struck us. The problem then, as now, was that was similar to swatting at an ant in an ant hill. It only spread the problem out and made then even more determined, which their Koran tells them to bide their time and strike harder the next time.

We cannot look at this from a religious point of view or a national point of view, it just is part of our world and the time that we are living in. The next strike will be worse.

New age, what does it really mean?


Many people think that “new age” is a reference to our placement in time, like the twenty-first century, but the name has been in use for many more years than in just the past decade. For a complete list of what and when this began see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age.

For many people in the world, the new age movement began to be popular in the 1960’s, which is why it is associated with all of the crazy stuff that went on during that time. Even many gurus latched onto it with their beliefs and teachings about meditation and an all-inclusive religion. One that doesn’t claim superiority  or even claim that it is right or the only way, like mono-theistic religions do.

New age tries to develop a harmony between science and religion so that you can sort of, have your evolution and creation at the same time. What a concept!?

Really?

All of the religions in the world that are apart from the three mono-theistic religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, have some component of work that has to be performed by man in order for him to reach a level of being above his place in the universe. An attainment that can only be reached by doing things in a correct way or prescribed manner during a person’s lifetime. Where does this work-based belief get you? Tired, frustrated, anxious, scared, wondering if you did enough or did it right, is that how you want to reach the end of your life? Full of worry and scared that what you have done or haven’t done in this life may not have been good enough?

I know the arguments of people who claim to be atheists or agnostics, I have read some of their books. The crux of the matter is this: what do you believe? If you don’t believe in anything after death, then you don’t have anything to fear, do you? You’re just dead and that’s it, so what’s the difference? OK, but what if you are wrong?

If your belief is Scientology, will the Thetan‘s carry you to a place and change you into a god? Will Allah take you into his bosom and give you eternal life? There are many other religions in the world which claim to bring you into a state of oneness with the universe, but will you know it or does your essence just merge with the cosmos forever and you fade away like a puff of smoke?

I don’t know what happens after we die, but I do know what is promised in God’s Word. Jesus said that we would have eternal life if we only believed in His sacrifice and that it paid the penalty for our sins. Is that such a crazy idea? Its not any worse or crazier than some others I don’t believe.

The New Age thinkers don’t know any more about what happens after death than any of the rest of us and they won’t until they die. The problem is that we can’t come back and tell anyone Who we ran into or what we found out on the day that we crossed over life’s threshold into eternity. It really is a mystery that cannot be solved by anyone who is still alive. I know that there are some who have had near death experiences and came back to tell what they have seen, and some of them I believe are credible and as truthful as they can be.

The truth is that we can’t really know until we die and it seems that many people just don’t care what happens after their body dies. Many people think that all of our existence stops when our body dies but according to Jesus, our soul continues on and we will have a glorified body to go with it. So, if this life is just the beginning, don’t you want the eternal part of your life to be more than you ever hoped or dreamed about?

Yes, I do believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven because He said so. That is all that I need because of my faith in Him. It is true that there are many other religions out there but do they claim to be the pathway to heaven? Most of them don’t actually, they claim other types of existence such as reincarnation or they don’t claim any eternal existence at all. I think I would rather believe the One Who says, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise!”

What do you see here?


A picture is worth 1000 words. This safe has been through a lot. Image credit: “safe” – © 2007 Paul Keller – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

It has been through a tremendous fire with a lot of heat which is what did all of the damage to it. The fire was particularly hot but the safe was not breached, it seems that it was capable of still being locked even though the outside was scorched and then discarded. I see an analogy of our country and the state of religion in it.

Christians, whether black or white, have taken the heat from people who follow Islam and from people who don’t follow any religion at all. We have not been broken, we have not stopped being Christians but there are some who are discarding their belief in Jesus or their religion. Why is this happening?

Is it because of the state of our country and its economy? Is it because of the state of relations between the so-called “races” of people in our country? Now, before anyone gets all bent out of shape, the reason that I have races in quotes is because God did not make us this way! God created mankind! We are all the same race, whether your skin is white or black, yellow or brown or any shade between those. Our main difference is cultural. There are cultural differences between most everyone on earth regardless of where you may live.

We are brought up by our parents and grand-parents into a culture, regardless of where you live. You may be brought up in a community in Chicago or Detroit or New York, but your culture will be in line with those that you are around.

Christian’s, regardless of race, should follow Jesus’ example. He didn’t pay attention to the cultural norms of his people, He spoke to women and to Samaritans which other Jews actively avoided. He healed lepers, he touched them which no one in His culture would do. We are to be His hands, His eyes, His feet in our time because others need to know Him. How will they know about Him if we don’t take Him with us through our actions or our words?

How can we possibly fulfill the commission that Jesus gave us to take the gospel to every nation and tribe if we don’t do it? If our cultural differences keep us apart and separate us into “us” and “them”, how can we show each other the love of Christ?

At the beginning of this post there is a picture of a burned safe which had been discarded. It did what it was supposed to do because it protected the contents to the best of its ability from the fire. That is what Christians are supposed to be doing too…protecting others from the fire of hell by telling them about the love and forgiveness of God.

Then, telling them about what Jesus did for each of us regardless of our skin color or our race or our culture. He did it for all of us and if you need to know what “it” is I am going to tell you: He took the punishment and the torture of being apart from God as well as the punishment of the cross for our sins!

God loves each of us, and it doesn’t matter which culture we claim or what skin color we have but in order for us to be considered a child of God and forgiven, we have to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and believe that it was for us because it was! The way that the world has everyone thinking is about groups of people and we need to look at each other as individuals. Each of us is unique and different but we are all the same in God’s eyes!

The contents of that safe may have burned up, but it did its job as well as it could. It may not have been designed to take as much heat as it looks like it was exposed to, but we are. Our character is molded by our culture and that character is what we should be showing the world. If your character and your ability is modeled after Christ, then they will see Him and that is the best that we can do as individuals because we were created to be mankind and have a relationship with each other and with God.

Can my religion save me?


There are many thousands of religions or “movements” claiming to be religions today, but what do they offer us? Do the atheists who claim to have no god or belief in a god have it right, that we are our own god and that we are the ultimate authority in our lives? What about Hindi or Buddhists with all of their gods? Then there is Islam, the Mormons, Judaism, the list goes on and on. We have been inventing religions of one sort or another for thousands of years but is any one of them right?

There are some who think that the earth itself is a goddess and there are many different religions which go along with this view. However, you cannot possibly think that the earth is going to bring about peace in the world when it is the population of the world that is fighting each other. People are not inherently good, we only have to listen to the news to find that out. Our goodness comes from something or someone other than our own thoughts and feelings. Is it possible that we can’t get it right on our own. We have had many thousands of years to attempt just that and yet peace never reigns for very long regardless of where you live. There is always civil unrest of one sort or another, whether it is violent or not makes no difference.

The animal called mankind is incapable of peace on his own. Religion and religious people have actually caused much bloodshed in our world and its history, mainly due to one thinking that their way is superior to others. In these writings that I have left here over the past few years I have pointed to Christianity and its teachings and I will continue to do so. However, men have used the claim of being Christians to do many terrible things in the past and I will not deny that. Yet, following Christ and His teachings is the only way to be assured of a place in Heaven.

I am not claiming that Christians are perfect, far from it actually. We all make mistakes, we all screw up, regardless of which religion we claim to follow. Christians have a living Savior who is our model that we attempt to follow, but we cannot do it on our own or with our own strength. When we, as sinners, accept Jesus as our Savior the Holy Spirit fills a place in our hearts and if we listen to His voice, He will guide us in doing His work on earth so that others will see that it is not us doing it, but Him.

Yes, churches are full of hypocrites, and drunks and all sorts of sinners but they are supposed to be! Jesus told the religious leaders of His day that “people who are well need not a physician, but those who are sick”. If you believe that you and your life are doing fine, how can I possibly convince you otherwise? By showing you that I have something that you need. Not by beating you with it or berating you for your lifestyle, but by showing you my life and the One that I follow. If you decide that you want Him too, great! If my witness, however feeble it is, does not convince you that you need Jesus then I have done what I had to do and I will leave you to your life.

No one can force you to believe in Jesus or any other religion, even though some try. The one question I would like to leave you with is this: What if following Jesus is the right path? How will you answer God when He asks you “What did you do with My Son?” If your answer is nothing, that is the wrong answer!

Jesus is the answer. I know that it seems to be a cliché’ but it is the truth. We all have a place in our hearts, in our being that feels empty and we attempt to fill it with something. Yet, nothing fits because the only thing that fits is Jesus and until we ask Him into our lives and our hearts that space will always feel empty. Ask Him into your life and into your heart because until you do your life will always be less than it could be. After He comes to live there, your life will be more than you can imagine!

Oh, and to answer the question that I started with in the title of this entry…the answer is no, religion cannot save your soul or make you righteous in any way. Religion only points you to the One who can do those things and that is…Jesus!

Are we pushing an agenda or trying to bring people to Christ?


In the charged atmosphere that our country is in, what are we doing as representatives of Christ? Are we representing Christ to the world? There are many who see the church as a radical group that is pushing their agenda on people who don’t want it. In this scenario, the church is being compared to zealots and terrorists because of the way the message of a few congregations gets attention from the media. Sensationalism in our society is all the rage because of so-called “reality TV” so anyone who has an opinion, especially one that is going to get attention, will get air time.

Even the man-made religions of Islam and Scientology get far more favorable time than most churches that follow Jesus. Is it because we are living in the times prior to His return? I don’t know for sure. Many people wonder when that might happen and the fact is that no one knows except God. When the time is right, it will happen because it is prophesied in His Word. That belief is based on faith, but not blind faith. It is faith in a risen Savior and in the prophecies which have already come true that are in the Bible.

Christ is the answer to all of life’s questions because He is the author of life. He is the Creator and our redeemer and the only “agenda” that I am preaching if that is what you call this.

In life and in this world there are many troubles. Some are caused by us, some by natural processes like earthquakes and hurricanes, and many of the wars and diseases that afflict mankind have their cause in Satan and his demons. I know that there are many who will not believe this because they put about as much into belief in him as they do in Bigfoot or “little green men”.

Humans are hated and despised by Satan because of our status in God’s eyes, especially those who have accepted Christ as their savior. The rhetoric that is being debated in the media about Christians and their belief that is based on the Word of God against sinful lifestyles.

In many ways we are very much like children who cannot get along. One group goes to one part of the playground, another to another area and none of them play together. Our pride and selfishness gets in the way of being the people that God intended for us to be. We have our own views and opinions of how “religion” or lack of it should be done and we are stubborn enough to not allow others to influence us.

Why are we such a stubborn people? Because we want things our way, we want to do everything on our own, like children even as adults.

God knows this and He knows us and our ways. He also knows what is best for us but until we decide to follow Him, we will be stuck doing it our way. We may get some things done in our world, but what about after we leave this world and stand before Him? Will anything that we have done matter at that point? If it was done for Him it will, if not then the question becomes “What did you do with my Son, Jesus?”

The answer to this question may not mean much to you now but when eternity is before you the answer will make a great deal of difference. We do not know how many days that we have in this life and I know there are many who think they should do all they can to have fun before they die. Have you considered what happens after you die? Many people think that once you die, that’s it, but it is not.

We all have eternal souls and where we spend eternity hinges on the answer to the  previous question. Your life in eternity, whether in heaven or hell, is determined by your answer toward Christ. Did you accept Him as your Lord and Savior or did you reject Him? You place in eternity depends solely on the answer to that question, think about it.

What is goin’ on in this world!?


All of the badness and craziness in the world, why is it happening? It’s not just here in America, it is everywhere. In Europe, in the Middle East, and in Africa everything has changed. The world seems to be getting darker and more violent toward anyone who is not a Muslim, why is that? Simply, it is because their so called “holy” book says to do so if they, the infidels or unbelievers in the religion of Islam.

This so-called “religion of peace” does not advocate peace with others unless they convert to Islam. If they are Christians or Jews, they are to be killed if they do not convert and if they do convert, they are still to be treated badly. Our world is changing due to their intolerance of others and because of an old rivalry which started long ago with Ishmael.

God said that Ishmael was going to be the father of many princes and he is the father of all the Arabian nations which surround Israel. And all of them hate Israel, Jews and Christians because of their religion, Islam. The problems are being caused by the differences in religions but also by Satan, who is responsible for these problems in the first place. The problems that our world faces are caused by all the sin in the world because of the influence of Satan and his demons that influence the world and the world’s “religions”.

Jesus said that this would happen and that there would be a falling away from Christianity in the latter days. It is beginning along with the other problems in the world like famines, diseases, wars, etc. If these are not enough to bring you to Christianity then read the Bible and pray! He is the only One who knows what and when these things are going to happen because He prophesied them to come to pass. It is the only true book which came from God and the Word in it is His Word.