“When Religion Goes Bad”

The other night while sleeping and praying, as I never know for certain whether I am sleeping or praying; it was about 4am and as I was worshiping the Lord and resting in his Holy Presence, in my spirit I saw an Imam sitting in the midst of a group of small children, ages 4 to about 8, all boys and he was instructing these young boys in the Koran.  They were all intently listening, and absorbing every word as if these were the very words from God.  But as I listened, the words of the Imam turned from the good words of the Koran to something alien from the true religion of God.  The Imam’s words changed to a call to martyrdom and of becoming warriors for God, attacking those not of the faithful.  Finally, the Imam’s words turned into words of hatred and holy warfare, intent on making these young boys into weapons of war for this peculiar religion.

I remember in my heart feeling such sadness in that moment as to be almost overcome by the  compassion I felt in my heart for these little children, and for a moment I felt the heart of God, crying for His little ones, who at such a young age are being destroyed, by being manipulated in their innocence, by taking from them the joys of childhood, being molded by this Imam into something not of their own choosing, a religion not of God, but of human hatred, destruction of other human beings and the pure evil of the demonic.  And most remarkably, this is being done among us, right before our eyes, in the name of religion, in the name of our God!

Having studied both the Koran, the Holy Bible and numerous other writings of other world religions, what I am describing above is a corruption of true religion.  True religion, based in the genuine heart of God knows nothing of hatred, violence, warfare and destruction of the human family.  True religion from the genuine heart of God is about loving kindness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.  True religion from the heart of God does not destroy life, but gives life.  True religion from the genuine heart of God brings healing and peace to humanity.  It does not separate the races based on color of skin, creeds, religion or national origins.  True religion from God’s own heart unites humanity in all our diversity and differences, not losing our identity but causing us to genuinely accept and appreciate our differences and that of others and our uniqueness as human beings, all of whom we are made in the image of God our Creator.

Those who conscript true religion and make it demonic, and use it as a weapon of warfare and destruction do not know God and are of the same essence as their father the Devil (or Satan).  Only Satan comes to kill, maim and destroy humanity.  The God I know in Jesus Christ destroys the work of the devil, not with weapons of warfare, but with deeds of loving kindness, goodness and mercy!  The differences in true religions are many, but focus on various aspects of their founders, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, the Buddha, Confucius, the ultimate reality of the Brahman, the Tao, and the teachings of Zoroaster.  The core of any true religion focuses on the better aspects of the human family, as justice, mercy and truth.  True religion ultimately unites everyone.  It is not about the destruction of the human family, nor does it seek for the separation of those genuine human beings who seek for the living God among one another.  God is our Father, Christ is our brother and we are all invited to be one family in God’s love for us all.

The aberration of radical Islam, along with white supremacy, Nazism and other human groups based on hatred and exclusion are not the norm among the human family.  From the first early human social societies, religion was used to teach the myths of creation, to instruct the human family in the aspects of the worship of the gods, and of the relationships between persons in society.  In some cases religion was used to reinforce the cult of the Pharaoh or the upper castes, as the Egyptian cult of death and that of the Mayans who regularly practiced human sacrifice, taking the best of their youth as sacrificial offerings in the preservation of their society.  However, these religions ultimately died out, as any religion which worships death and fratricide is doomed to die its own death, as it takes away life instead of giving life to all.

The modern phenomenon of Isis in Islam and the cult of white supremacy groups in Christianity are both aberrations of true religion. In one case Islam and in another Christianity are conscripted to support a religion of hatred and pure evil.  Both of these religions, as the cult of Nazism before them will not exist for long in this earth, as ultimately their destructive tendencies toward others will eventually consume their own followers.  No one can take fire into their heart and hands and themselves not be burned.

What I argue for, among any group which calls themselves religious or of some religious persuasion, who quotes as authoritative the words of one scripture or another, or one prophet or another, is that each of us look honestly at ourselves and ask ourselves whether our religion is true to the heart of God.   If God is love and God IS LOVING, but our religions which say they express the will of God in this earth turn away from a loving expression of life, then at that moment they cease to be true religions.  At any time in which we turn away from the intent and the intention of our Creator God, then we are no longer a true religion as we are no longer united to the God who placed his image of love and kindness and moral code into our own hearts.

If we deny our truest selves, have we not also denied the God who created us?

In the Christian faith (and I am a Christian believer in Christ as God’s Unique and Holy Son), we are taught that Jesus Christ is the divine God, who has come to earth as a human being, so as to fully identify himself with us.  In this way Jesus fulfills God’s plan for him (the Christ) to be the unique Lamb of God who dies on the cross to take away the sins of the world.  We are also taught that Jesus Christ teaches us in his humanity what it means to truly be and to live as a child of the Living God.  So, in Christ’s words and deeds on this earth we are given an example of what our true humanity is and is to become.  We are taught as Christians that “God is love!  He that dwells in love dwells in God, for God is love!” (The Epistle of I John 4:16)  Jesus Christ died as the propitiation for our sins, to destroy the works of the devil which separates us from one another. Jesus Christ died that we may have rebirth and renewal of life in Him.

The writer of John’s epistle says, “In this the children of God are manifest [known], and the children of the devil:  whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.  For this is the message we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (I John 3:10-11)

In the Koran, Mohammad recognizes the true believers in God and calls them his brothers and his sisters.  In the early years of that religion, Mohammad instructed his followers to pray toward Jerusalem as Jerusalem is the holy city of God.  In the early years of the faith of Islam, Mohammad recognized both Christians and Jews as worshipers of God and called these “the People of the Book”.  “The People of the Book” are those neighbors of Mohammad who also worshiped God, had the Holy Scriptures and recognized the God of Abraham, the father of the faithful, but were of another faith than Islam.  Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.  Ishmael is recognized by Mohammad as the progenitor of the Arabs and other tribes of that region of the world.  Isaac is recognized by the Jewish and the Christian faith as the father of the Jews and in Christianity as the forebear of Jesus Christ, who was born of the tribe of Judah, a son of both Abraham and of David.

Those who are faithful interpreters of the Koran and who have studied these scriptures as I have studied them will know that what I have said is true.  Mohammad later interpreted the city of Mecca to be the sacred city for those of the Islam faith, but Islam still recognizes Jerusalem as one of the most holy sites, where Mohammad ascended into heaven on his white steed, in the area of Jerusalem where now stands the Dome of the Rock [Mosque], one of the holiest sites of Islam.  The Jewish Western Wall is also on this same Temple Mount and it represents the site of the old Jewish Temple, a site sacred to Jews everywhere.  Since Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem and will return to this very same Temple Mount (of Olives) at the end of Days to rule and reign over the earth, this also is a sacred site to Christians.  Today on this site sits the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The rock within the Dome of the Rock is the site of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son (Isaac).  Later this same holy mount becomes the site of the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

So, in God’s wisdom and grace the people of the scriptures and of the faith of Abraham, all whom worship the God ‘El [Elohim, Jehovah, Yahweh] (see Exodus 3:6, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, John 8:58, Colossi ans 1:15-19) as the One True God have all been joined in God’s grace and providential plan in this one holy city of Jerusalem and in this one holy temple mount in Jerusalem.  The children of Abraham, whether we trace our lineage though Isaac or Ishmael, are all considered worshipers of the one true and living God.  As Christians, we recognize Yahweh in the person of Jesus Christ, finding God’s words in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.  Those of the Jewish faith see themselves as the true children of Abraham, following the words of the scriptures of the Old Testament.  Those of the Islamic faith see themselves as God’s children and follow the words of the revelation given to them by Mohammad in the Holy Koran.

While we may not agree on the interpretations of our faiths, we should at least allow that we are all children of God who bear within us the same image of this same Living God.  We all are joined in worship of this One God!  It would seem, as God’s own children we should be able to develop among us some consensus as to what constitutes a good, true and healthy religion, which does not seek the destruction of humanity, but instead seeks for humanity’s good!  We all seek for the rebirth of the human spirit and of the rebirth of all creation in God’s divine plan.   If we do not soon learn how to live together in peace, we inevitably will destroy ourselves.  We cannot live on a planet of between 7 billion and 10 billion persons unless we can learn to live together and somehow appreciate and even cherish the uniqueness of one another.

Whether we are Christians, Jews, Moslem s, those of some other religions, or those of no religion, it is to our advantage to learn how to accommodate and get along with each other’s differences.  It may be hard, but it is not impossible!

In the words of Paul the Apostle, the recognition of a true religion is based on these following words:  “The fruits of the Spirit (of God in Jesus Christ) are these:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness [long-suffering], gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self- control;  against such there is no law.”  (The Epistle to the Galatians 5:22-23).  When Jesus Christ declares, “By their fruit, ye will know who are my disciples,” (The Gospel of Matthew 7:20), Jesus is referring to what Paul interprets in this passage.  Paul is explaining what the words of Jesus mean to the Christian disciples.

So using the words of Jesus, we critique and/or praise other religions.  The conscription by Isis of the religion of Islam should be disavowed by the Imam and other instructors of the Koran, just as the Christian church disavows any connection to white supremacy and hatred between the races in the United States and the world.  A religion of hate and hatred of any of the human family of God has no place alongside a religion of love, peace and righteousness for all who are part of God’s family.  It is possible that those things which unite us in our faith in the Living God are greater than what seems to divide us.  We will never know if this is true if we continue on our current paths of hatred and destruction.  There is a better way.  We reject what is not part of God’s loving heart.  We only embrace finally what causes us to belong to our loving God and to one another.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight in this desert a highway for our God!”

“Amen and Amen”