సాక్ష్యం 7. A time of darkness in the heavens (Isaiah 13:9; Joel 2:31; 3:15)
8.A time of fire from the Lord (Joel 2:3; 5:30)
The above said verses would give us and relate about the Lords judgement of the earth and the second coming. This will happen before the commencement of His Millemial reign.
Two worlds collide
But Apostle Peter in his teachings put the Lords day is in the following important discourse.
1.In the last days there would be scoffers walking after their own taste (v. 3).
2.They would ridicule the promise of Christ's return (v. 4b)
3.The reasoning of the false teachers was based on their presumption of an uninterrupted flow of history. Things would continue as they always had (v.
4b)
4.Contrary to the philosophy of the scoffers, Peter noticed that God in fact did intervene in the course of human events in judgement through Noatic flood
5.The present heavens and earth are reserved for judgement once again. The next time it will not be by water (flood) but by fire (v. 7)
6.Judgement has been with held by a long suffering God giving man opportunity to repent.
7.The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night and the heavens and the earth will be judged by fire.
సాక్ష్యం 8. In the light of certain fact of coming judgement men are to live holy lives
looking for the coming of Christ (v. 11,12)
9.His coming would be followed by a new heaven and new earth (v. 13)
If we look into the verses mentioned by Peter in this context, his argument completely revokes around the fact that God entered the flow of human history, for the sake of His judgement with the Noatic flood. And God wished to enter human history in order to give His judgement for the second time during the day of the Lord.
As pointed out by Peter, the day of the Lord will come at end of the
Millennium (an absolute requisite for the new heaven and new earth to commence at the time since the two are interlinked). During the time of His second coming, the Lord will imprison Satan and execute the Anti Christ, purge the earth, destroy the false religion, judge the wicked and brings in a thousand years Messianic age.
Prophet Isaiah spoke about the new heaven and new earth as renovated ones which commence at the beginning of the Millennium, but not at the end. And he also said that right. The Old Testament prophets and Dr Luke, Paul and Peter from the New Testament and then great men spoke about the coming of the Lord. All
Offsprings from the Tabernacle these prophets and apostles together described that a judgement by fire in heavens and earth quite similar to the one that Peter also described. When the king of glory return, to usher in a golden age in order to rule and reign for one thousand, years the curse of the sin will be lifted and peace will come to the people. The righteousness and justice will be established among men.
John saw not only the new heaven and the new earth, but also the holy city
New Jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven duly prepared as a bride and adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). This Jerusalem is mentioned for the first time in the Bible when Abraham met Melchizedec upon his return from rescuing his nephew Lot. You also come across the name Melchizedec for the first time in
(Gen. 18:14). Melchozedec means “king of righteousness”. He was a priest of
“ELELYON”, the most high God.
He was originally a shepherd boy around the area of “Mount Hararath”, a great, great grandson of Noah. God anointed him and assured him to go to a distant place called Salem and continue his priesthood by serving bread and wine to the people. The word “Salem” means peace which is called later the historical city of Jerusalem. Melchizedec was divinely appointed ruler to Jerusalem. One who is a royal priest, the king of righteousness, the prist of the most high God.
When Abraham wanted to sacrifice his son Isaac, he came to the mount
Morea which is in Jerusalem. It was on Mount Morea king Solomon built the temple to be a habitation to God on earth. it was the same mount which was later called Jabus because a tribe called Jebusits lived there, and king David came to defeat these Jebeusites that were living there. He somehow defeated them and made their fortress his capital which in course of time called Jerusalem. It was the same Jerusalem the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world.
To the same Jerusalem, Jesus will return for His coronation as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to become king of kings and Lord of Lords. Jerusalem is the center of the capital of human history.
New Jerusalem
1.New Jerusalem will be the center and capital of Christ’s Millennial kingdom.
2.New Jerusalem is the city that father Abraham looked for which had foundations, whose builder is God Himself (Heb. 11:10).
3.New Jerusalem is a city built for the church, the bride of Christ (Rev.
21:9,10).
4.New Jerusalem is a city which will descend out of heaven like a chandelier and rest upon the earth (Rev. 3:12).
5.New Jerusalem is a city in which God himself will dwell (Rev. 21:11).
6.New Jerusalem is a city constructed with more precious materials (Rev.
21:18-21).
7.New Jerusalem is a city of safety and perpetual day (Rev. 21:25).
8.New Jerusalem is a city where nothing but defiles can enter.
సాక్ష్యం 9. New Jerusalem is a city whose inhabitants will know good only and endless
life (Rev. 22:1).
10.New Jerusalem was the city of unending and abundance of provisions (Rev.
22:2).
11.New Jerusalem is a city whose inhabitants shall have intimate access to the
Lamb (Rev. 22:3-4).
* * *
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
19
ISRAEL AND MIDDLE EAST
There has been tension and restlessness among Israel and Muslims nations for some years in the Middle East even up to the breaking point. But the Bible believers all over the world are wondering how long that tension would continue.
In this context a Bible reader and lecturer “Mark Rosenthal” took more interest to answer some doubts about the political conditions and other facts of the Middle East and also the part played by the so called Christians at this critical moment and the prophecies in the Bible.
Why should Christians be more concerned about the Middle
East?
Christians of the whole world are more concerned because what was going on in the Middle East has direct prophetic implications. And this issue has direct link with the Christians of the whole world. If we look into the Bible and the events that took place at the time of the coming of Jesus Christ then we must know Israel is like a barometer of what is happening and about all the prophetic scripture. Therefore it is necessary to know what is going on in Israel in order to understand the prophetic scripture.
When did Israel and Palestine compact begin?
The “UNO” made a partition for Palestine from Israel country in 1947 and called it Palestine. They are supposed to call Jewish state and Palestenian state.
They gave time to the British to withdraw its army of 1,00,000 troops in six months time. The understanding was that there would be two states and that might be declared on May 14th. But surprisingly there was partition only and no separate Palestinian state and Israel occupied that area. Actually the Turkish government controlled that part of Israel from 1517 to 1947. And from the first
World War to the Second World War the British government controlled that area.
Israel and Middle East
As a matter of fact, there was no Palestinian state up to the end of the Second World War. At that time that particular area was in the control of Jordan.
Then in 1948 May 14th, Israel declared its independence. After that the Arab countries including some Palestinians in Israel began to attack Israel with dangerous weapons including suicide bombers. Just at that time a Muslim by name “Yasser Arafat” came to limelight and became a leader to the revolutionaries.
Why the world appears to be steemed towards Palestinians in the conflict?
Most of the Americans supported Israel and most of the Europeans and some other countries supported Palestinians. There are some reasons for that. One reason is many people do not know about the historical, legal and moral back ground of Israel and their way of life. If we look into the reality, the Jewish population is only 5 million where as the Arab-Muslims are 1.5 billion and 1.8 billion in the world. And most of the oil mines are under the control of Arab-
Muslims which are like precious gold.
Then in France, the Muslim population is more than the total population of Israel. In Germany there are many Muslims. In London there are more Muslim
Mosques than Christian churches. If we compare 1.5 billion Muslims with 5 million Jews in Israel then we can understand the physical strength between the two rival groups. At the same time there is wonderful comparison and perception that Israel is Goliath and all Arab-Muslim nations are like David.
And another more pathetic thing is that the land area of Israel is even less that 1 percent before the mass land of the Middle East. But Israel and Arab were in laggerheads politically for separate states of Israel and Palestine and Yasser
Arafat wished to achieve that under his leadership through the weapons of terrorism and suicide bombers. As he was a Muslim he could have the support of all the Muslim nations around Israel. The main idea in supporting Arafat for the battle was that all Muslims did not want to see Israel country in their midst. His plan was to wipe out Israel from the globe itself and that was the reason why they supported Arafat.
The Muslims hated even Jewish God. They thought both “Allah” their God and Jewish God are enemies. That was the political and religious condition in the Middle East. In such positions Israel did not continue war. Instead the Israel government offered peace four times with some modifications. But they bluntly
Offsprings from the Tabernacle rejected that offer with some aulterial motive. Then one of the Israel statesman and historian “Abba Eban” commented that Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian “have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.
Israel offered them great concessions but they did not want them and they wanted war only for their survival and that was the result of their recent bombing and had to respond desperately and attacked them. If we think about the second world war for a while, the Americans killed more Japanese than Japanese killing
Americans. But Japanese were held responsible for starting the war. They bombed
America's Pearl Harbor and used suicide bombers. The media may give surprising news about "Israel tanks rolled in the west bank”. It is only for their defence and for that survival they continued the war. Yet they were not aggressive.
They might have powerful army and they had been forced to fight by the circumstances.
Golda Mier made a wonderful comment in this connection. She said we can forgive you for killing our children, but we can never forgive for making us to kill your children”. This kind of heart breaking statement would never come from the mouth of any one of Arab muslims of the Palestinian world.
First of all, we must be thankful to the president of USA for having taking the correct step at the correct time by interfering in the Middle East conflict. He planned to save the world from terrorism in general and save Israel from the same trouble in particular. He realized that terrorism should be defeated both in terms of terrorist organizations and the nations that support such activities. They worked on to provide something extra and allow them to forge the "passport" and their required “visas” and the concerned documents in order to draw money and “sanctuary” by which they can get the necessary material that they needed.
It is understood that everyone would say Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and at the same time Muslims were on the opinion that the whole world should worship “Allah” only and the prophet “Mohammed”. And according to the Bible, the Christian believers in the world believed in the evangelism. Jesus Christ gave His last commandment to his disciples to go into every nook and corner of the world to preach and to make more disciples.
Biblical Christianity itself is expanding through love and choice and nobody would try to enforce his own views upon others but Islam is trying to expand its religion through war and the strange methodology they use.
Israel and Middle East
In such political conditions America is the only country that stood against terrorism and no other country extended any support to America in the world except England to certain extent. The speaker in his opinion said that all must work together for the world peace. But there will not be any worked out plan and peace declared until Jesus Christ returns as the Lord of lords and the Lord of the tribe of Judah and Lord of all lords. If we understand particularly the Middle East might become worst politically because of the terrorism that prevailed in the Middle East.
If we look into the conflict the Bible makes a reference – the emergence of Antichrist and persecution of Israel what is called the time of Jacobs’s troubles.
What must be your opinion about the conflict?
A lot of conflicting things and events moving Israel into a position to embrace an agreement they would not have otherwise embraced. That is what we are looking Biblically. Ultimately there will be a ten nation confederation, one of which arose an individual that we call theologically Antichrist.
In the mean time, peace makers came to take care of the terrorist activities.
But Israel expected peace makers either from ‘America or from Canada’ only so that they can be plain and reliable towards all. There was a short time peace keeping or short enduring peace agreement and at the same time an attack on Israel by the coalition took place. And Turkey also became one of the peace keeping nations which were moderate towards Muslim Coalitions.
The coalition Muslims frequent attack on Israel became a problem to the peace keepers. But the Bible says the Muslims are going to be defeated by God
Himself on the mountains of Israel. The Bible also says “I will bring all nations up against Jerusalem, and Jerusalem could be a burdensome stone for all the nations of the world”.
Where does America stand in prophecy?
America is not mentioned in the prophecy or prophetic scriptures. There are two reasons for that. America might not be a powerful country when those events took place. The nations that are mentioned in the prophetic scriptures are the nations that really bothered Israel in the negative sense. So, God has shown some justification in not mentioning the name of America. If we look into the book of
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
Revelation chapter 15, it clearly tells about God’s wrath in destroying the economic growth of the world. According to the Bible, the destruction may be with the help of the massive explosives.
At that time nations will lament for the destruction and economically those nations would become poor by that time. At present the economic center of the world is America and if any crisis takes place it would be worldwide.
What is the believers understanding about the Middle East?
In the Middle East, it is good if the prophetic events precede the coming of Christ: At the same time we can believe the coming of Christ may happen at any time in a generation. And also the unfolding events made us believe those events are prophetically related and moving us towards the end of age. Then regarding
America’s economy, though it is bad, the employment is better than most of the nations in the world. America is marching forward but there was a sudden break in the going further with September 11th incident.
But still this horrible incident gave all Americans the ease of unification.
What should have happened after September 11th tragedy is that the people have fallen out their faces and out to God for repentence, acknowledging that they are sinful and their nation on the whole is sinful, and that they are wicked and needed
Divine forgiveness. God must change the mental set up of Americans so that they would come to Him and hear His word with repenting spirit for what they have done or what is happening in their country and ask for God’s forgiveness etc., Instead, many Americans are indulging in decaying drugs, home-sexuality and other sinful activities and these are rampant in American society today. God will judge America one day or other for its own unpardonable and unethical way to life. According to the statement of the speaker said above, it seemed he is more worried and more common to his people and to the country. He finally compared
America and its people to the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He expressed his agony regarding his people and said if God does not punish
America for its sin and wickedness, then he has to ask pardon both Sodom and Gomorrah for punishing them.
It is true, God is a true God and righteous God; to whom much is gain and much is required that is only a matter of time. Until divine judgment fall on America the speaker is fully regretted for the present way of the life of the people and wished for the punishment from above like Sodom and Gomorrah. He is
Israel and Middle East looking forward for the blessed hope of the church, for which Jesus Christ is coming again. When He comes, those who died in Christ will be resurrected and those who are living will be raptured.
The speaker believes that “there will not be any legitimate enduring peace over Israel until Jesus Christ returns”. Actually it is a unique theory in history, when many people are open to the claims of Christ. He hoped and wished for himself and for co-Americans, to seek the unique opportunities and seek to live godly, righteous and justfull life in this present evil world.
But in this struggle between the Middle East and Israel according to Zachariah astonishing end days prophecy, Israel will win the battle.
It is really inhuman that a suicide bomber entered into a sea side resort restaurant “Nstanglia”, Israel. At that time, hundreds of people were gathering ready to celebrate “passover”. All of a sudden, the bomber blows himself up and the result was 27 Israelis died on the spot and 127 wounded. A Palestinian militant happened to fire a Jewish bat “Mizvah”. The result was 6 died and 30 injured. Another suicide bomber blew himself up in a pool Hall of “Tel Aviv” and the result was 15 died and dozens injured.
People who have hearts can understand the political condition of Israel.
They were under anticipation when and where the terrorists would attack them; so they were living fear gripped and spending sleepless nights in their homes.
Hundreds of people were dying due to such incidents. It is pitiable that even some
Muslim countries are supporting the Palestine but only America is supporting
Israel.
When Israel confined “PLO” leader Yasser Arafat in the west bank town of “Ramallah” about 30 activists joined him calling themselves ”human shields”.
One of them was an Israel-canadian. He said “I know that the only chance for Israel to have peace and security is for the Palestinians to have peace and security”. If such was the thinking of Palestinians, it is an affront to Israel.
There is no doubt Israel will win at the end. But before that she has to face and endure some frightful stress from its enemies. There are only two books in the Bible discovering the bright future of Israel. They are the books of “Zacharia” and the book of Revelation. For the conflict with Palestine, Israel will stand alone. One day people will see Israel stand as a single unit for the battle. Both
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
America and England are supporting Israel with some doubt about the other nations that could support Israel. The oil nations may put a question to the countries that support Israel that they should either stop supporting Israel or accept the price rise of oil. And finally the countries may withdraw the support.
In the final battle as Zacharia said in 12:3 that Israel would stand alone in “Armageddon” the final battle place. If the world nations think Israel is in the control of history, they are wrong. They are in the control of God. And at the end of the age God wished to punish Israel very seriously for the purpose of moulding them into a nation.
It shall come to pass that in all the land saith the Lord, two parts there in shall be cut off and die and the third shall be left there in. “And I will bring the third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried. They shall call my name and I shall hear them, I will say it is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God” (Zechariah 13:8-9).
All the nations that joined together against Israel shall meet with a tragic end
– and two thirds of the Israel population shall be wiped out in that “Armageddon” battle. The main purpose of the loss of life according to God is that, He wanted to refine the remaining one third of Israel, so that they would repent for their past life and live as true Gods people. “the Lord also shall save the tents of Jewish people first, that that glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah”. When one’s the Lord interfere in the battle, then Israel does not need any foreign support of any nation.
At the end of the age God Himself will come into battle field.
The Lord says He will destroy every nation that comes against Jerusalem.
He said –
I will smite every hand with astonishment.; I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah. I will seek to destroy all the nations that came against Israel.
In this passage (Zechariah 12:4-9) the pronoun “I” is used three times. These lines indicate that He will empower Israel to defend itself but He Himself will do the fighting.
The Lord will rise from heavenly throne and wage war against the enemy of Israel. And on the day of the war Jesus will come and stand at the top of the mount of olives and look at all directions. In this context prophet Zechariah
Israel and Middle East pointed out some images which are more significant, magnificent, terrifying and awesome and also he pointed Christ as a warrior. People must have to know that it is Messiah who will redeem for which He has come two Millennia ago.
The people of Israel are overwhelmed by the Lord's grace which they never had before and also by the provisions He made for them. They must have to know that it is only through Messiah, Israel can be saved and that He has come only to redeem them from their “sins”.
“Make no mistakes about it, All attacks on Israel – past, present and future
– fly in the flee of God’s love – care and provision for the nation”. After a long time Israel has realized that Jesus is the only Messiah on whom they must depend for everything. And the grief of their long rejection will be deeply felt. On that day the prophet writes "shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem – and they tend shall mourn long family apart – the family of the house of David apart and their wives apart - all the families that remain, every family apart – and their wives apart” (Zechariah 12:4).
The mourning of Israel will be felt so great by all of them. So they mourn not only collectively but also individually. The people try their own means to reach Messiah and the Israel at last on reaching Messiah receiving Messiah will receive glorious and unimaginable blessings. The fear that has been in their minds all these days will be finally taken out. The hatred that was heaped in the nation shall close.
Spiritual blindness
The spiritual blindness that blunted Israel for a long time will be taken out finally. Then the remaining one third population will accept Christ as their savior and in the Millennium Kingdom the promised 1000 year era of peace. When Jesus begins to rule all nations of the world, then all nations will feel jealous of Israel. After their repentance God will bless them abundantly, their lands will be restored then they look more beautiful, their blood stains will be cleansed. Their crumbled buildings will be restored properly. Their land can be blessed with fruits, trees and grain. Finally, the young men and women will thrive in that land as they are completely forgiven by the God Almighty.
Though peace is declared today in the Middle East the scars of the wounds of hatred and merciless deeds were unforgettable when the Lord restores everything of Israel.The people will flourish under the lovely caring God.
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
“I will strengthen the house of Judah.
I will save the house of Judah.
I will bring them against to place them....
I am the Lord their God” (Zachariah 10:6)
These lines show God’s concern and plan to strengthen Israel as a special one in a large scale. He will treat them as if He never cast them off. He will cleanse them from their sin. In order to restore and redeem the Israel there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanliness.
It seems the fountain spoken of here is not likely a literal one. Instead of that the prophet Zechariah is conveying an image of perpetual cleansing from the sin that the nation restores Israel the sins of all centuries since the time of Abraham will be wiped out. Then in the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will be a redeemed, cleansed and restored ones and they may be called protected Israel.
Israel will be eternally secured at last. Even though peace agreement took place between Israel and the Middle East, they may flare up at any movement and break the peace formalities. In such position, peace agreement is simply a waste.
If God brings peace to Israel it will stand forever so that the whole world will be in perfect peace.
The book of Zechariah is really a gallery of pictures of the end of age and prophet Zechariah is a great painter who never handled a brush. Here he painted a glorious picture of the entire land – from Giba in the North to “Remmon” in the south will be supernaturally prevalent. Jerusalem means “city of peace”. But unfortunately it became a city of unending brutality and bloodshed for many years by the neighboring Arab-Muslims. But now the city will be under the control of the eternal God and it will be inhabited by people in safe and secure.
If at all partition takes place between Israel and Palestine, with the intervention of “UNO” and request for some concessions to Palestine, Israel may have to lose some land. Recently some protection is given. But still God will have to redeem from their perpetual suffering materially due to the surrounding enemies. Finally Israel will remain and stand as the crown Jewel of God’s
Kingdom. Those who like and love the Holy land can take into their heart of hearts that in the end Israel will win the battle. Amen.
20
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM
Most of the Biblical colleges and seminaries in certain parts of the world regularly offer courses in non-Christian religions to students especially to future missionaries for the purpose of better understanding of what to others believe of their own religion. And the main purpose of this article is that only. Fom the Biblical point of view, while there is much that is said in condemnation of Islamic teaching, practice and politics, which are not at all an attack on Islamic religion.
Knowledge followed by word and love, with certainty help us more effectively exhibit on Christian faith.
Islam
It is a religion that came into prominence and forefront and became a world important one because of the political and military confrontation in the Middle
East with Israel. Some people might know what the history and beliefs and some others with unanswerable questions. The prominent sects among Muslims are “Sunnis” and “Shiets”. I am trying to produce as far as possible that authentic information about Islam and the sects in this article. As a matter of fact there is a gulf of difference between Christianity and Islamic religion, theologically and mutually and some of the differences are quoted below.
Christianity teaches to humanity a “grace through faith and salvation”. And Islam needed certain requirements like praying five times a day. And this praying must be done by looking towards Mecca only. In addition to that, one should study Quran as one of the basic needs for a true Islamite.
New Testament says that a person can be saved and forgiven of his sins and justified by believing in Christ as his only Savior and other good works will save the sinner and will be forgiven in order to get a place in heaven. As it is said in Ephesians 2:8-9, "for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
Christianity teaches us that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, who was also Messiah promised in the Old Testament prophecies. The New Testament tells us that Christ died on the cross voluntarily for the atonement of the sinners.
Then He arose from the grave on the third day and went to heaven. He will come again to give His judgment to the dead.
But Islam denies what all is said about Christ. They believe it is Judah
Iscariot that was crucified but not Jesus Christ. They also did not believe Jesus died and rose on the third day. According to their belief Jesus was only a prophet.
In the order of them Jesus was the tenth prophet out of fourteen prophets.
Christianity teaches us that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah who was the Savior sent by God.
Islam denies this also, and said their pophet Mohammad superceded Jesus and corrected many errors taught by Him in the New Testament. Christian theology is theistic which means God answers our prayers within the will of God and can change things.
In Islam it is said “submission” to “Allah’s” will and it is understood in such a way that all things that are written and all things that are settled will be accepted.
The fundamental principle of New Testament is “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. It means that we shall forgive even our enemies and pray for them. As Christ said "but I say unto you love your enemies and bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you and pray for them who are dispitefully use you and persecute you” (Mathew 5:44). So, Christianity also explains the pacifism but the general outlook of Christianity is everlasting peace and harmony.
Unfortunately history gave a discouraging account of Christian wars particularly after the reformation which is not in the direction of our Lord.
However the teachings of Christ were not at all interesting to Muslims. They vihemently opposed His teachings. As God promised heavenly abode is there to Christians, if they live faithful life in the same way, if a terrorist is promised heavenly reward to kill innocent people, he will do that inhuman work whole heartedly. That is the impression of the Muslims regarding the salvation and our heavenly life.
What is Islam and Quran?
This Islamic religion was proclaimed in about seventh century A.D. in the
Christianity and Islam month of “Ramadan” (July). It is the belief of Muslims that in 610 A.D. in the month of “Ramadan” that Allah (name of Muslim God in Arabic) revealed his words to Prophet Mohammad through the angel Gabriel. It is like the Judaism and Christianity and Monotheistic, but its roots take us back to the father of all nations Abraham, and through his son Ishmael.
This Muslim relation seemed to have begun with the following words, “In the name of God the compassionate the Merciful”. As mentioned in the Quran the Muslims prayer will start with three words. The main theme of it is that there is only one God (Allah) and that he is great (Akbar): "Allah Hu Akbar - God is great - above all beings and above all human beings.
The Koran is divided into 114 surahs (chapters, sections, recitations). The introduction by the translator showed his respect to this work while writing. It is said Koran is the earliest and the first work of classical Arabic prose and for Muslims it is the infallible work of God, a transcript of tablet preserved in heaven safely and later revealed to the prophet Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. In that book there are some verses and a few passages spoken either by the prophet, or by Gabriel angel in the first person and the rest of the book is spoken by God
Himself.
The Koran regularly distinguishes between what is called “the people of the book” who are Christians and Jews, who lived carefully in peace, though they were punished hither to as they became infidel, atheistic, unbelievers and idol worshippers, who could not be tolerated.
An example for Koran – as said in “the people of the book” we will attain nothing without following “Torah” or “Pentateuch” (the five books of Moses) and the Gospel which had been revealed to us through God. The present believers, Jews and Christians and whoever believe in God and live faithfully till the end of the day and do what is right - have nothing to fear or regret in their life time.
Koran – Surah, (The table 5.58-69). The Islam also invites believers into its fold but the Muslims look down upon those people who come to their faith by leaving their original faith. If a Muslim wants to embrace Christianity, he feels like a fish out of water without the help of Arabic Bible translation. If a Muslim wished to contemplate on Christian theology and the truth, a challenge will be added to him, through the presence of missionaries who remain standing as western foreigners and a typical Muslim can never associate with that kind of
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
Christian Missionaries. The total difference between Christians and Muslims in language and culture made them isolated and difficult to understand the preaching’s of Christ and the “Good news of Christianity”. At the same time the Muslim community is afraid of one thing that is if any Muslim family wants to embrace Christianity that family’s social standing, educational opportunities and even the safety it may have to forgo. In such circumstances no one will dare enough to leave his faith and go to other faith.
So, the Muslims consider Jesus as one of the prophets but they consider
Mohammed as the last prophet and the greatest of all prophets. Their impression about Jesus was that He was a true prophet of God but never the embodiment of “divine power” and also He was never ‘crucified’. Regarding His mother Mary, their impression was that she was a model of woman and of purity (Koran
Muslims view of Koran is that it is a correction and explanation of prophesy as well as adding the past revelation of Moses and Jesus. They look at the Koran as the book which presents the practices (like prayers, alms, pilgrimage etc.,) and a faithful person shall abserve the above said rules and regulations in order to please God. Their religion is Islam which means “submission” or it is peace (Salaam) and adherent known as Muslim who submits to the will of God and simply one who has peace (Musalmaan).
The reader in this context can see the difference between Arabic and Hebrew words for peace. "Salaam" is an Arabic word for peace. "Shalom" is a Hebrew word for peace. These two words are spelled with the consonants S,L,M - years ago. The common spelling used by the westerners was "Muslim" which today prefered as Muslim.
Prophet Muhammad became a prosperous teaher in the western part of Arabian peninsula and at the age of 25 he married a widow who was very wealthy by name "Khadijah" and at the age of 40 he beame popular as a prophet. Then he was accepted by all muslims as a prophet. According to Muslims he was the last prophet in the line of the prophets (they included both Abraham and Jesus as prophets).
Mahammad's first disciple was his wife; then his friend "Abubaker". the third member was his cousin "Ali bin Abe Talibe". At that time, Muhammad got a vision, and as per the vision he was lifted up to heaven on his horse.
Christianity and Islam
Boraq while he was praying upon the rock he encaved inside al-Haram, the "Dome of the rock" in Jerusalem. Because of this rock Jerusalem became the most holy place to Muslims after Mecca and Madina. When the Muslim rule was in prominence in the middle ages, Bagdad became the most influential city of all
Muslim states that is the greatest city of all cities. The Muslim calender began in 622 A.D. when Mahammad made his 'fligth' (Arabic Hagean) from Mecca to Madinah, carrying with him the faith of Muslims.
The so called A.D. means (Anne Domonei) in the year of our Lord. It is also labelled as C.E. (Common Era). And for Muslims they had their own patern of calling. It is A.M. which means After Hegean. This is strictly followed by orthodox Muslims. It indicates the year. That is to say 2010 A.D. becomes 1388
A.H. for Muslims. To be clearer 2010 A.D._622 =1388. Muslims calender was bron on 622. So their years are counted from that time. Mohammad happened to flee from Mecca to the city of "Yathorib" which is about 275 miles to the north in the western Arabian peninsula. And the Muslim calender started from the day of Mohammad fleeing from Mecca.
He was properly received by the people of that city. His presence made the people to call the city as "the city of the Prophet" and consequently it became the second sacred city. Finally Mohammad died in the year 632 C.E. at the age of 63.
After him "AbuBaker" was chosen as the leader or Calif (Imam). He was called the chief Muslim religious ruler.
Principles of Islamic Religion
The first revelation of Sharia (religion based law or tradition) seemed to have come with the principles of -
1.Umma - means kingship with fellow muslims.
2.Justice - including right of punishment for criminal cases.
3.Manumission - Compassion especially towards slaves, who were to be freed when they accepted Islam.
4.Right to Life - Particularly against the practice of the time of killing inwanted female babies.
5.Adhem - Call to prayer five times a day.
6.Biblea - Prayer was to be no longer made facing Jerusalem, but towards
Mecca.
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
7.Toleration (tolerence) - of the people of the book, namely Jesus and Christians.
According to Koran, Muslims are prohibited from 1.Drinking Alchohal, gambling, and eating pork.
2.They are also prohibited from keeping the images of other gods in their houses.
Apart from the above said formalities there are five more observations for them.
1.Sha-ha-dah – witnessing to their faith.
2.Salat – Prayer of adoration and submission to Allah’s five times a day facing
Mecca.
3.Zahat - giving alms to the poor.
4.Saurm - or fasting during day light hours or during the entire month of Ramadan and Haji.
5.Haji - Taking a pilgrimate to Mecca which is accomplished at least once in a life.
To go on a pilgrimate to any sacred places in olden days was very difficult because of the transportation problem as we have today. We have all facilities today.
Spreading of Islam
The inception of Islam is 622 A.D. then it spread into Arabean peninsula and then it spread even into Israel and Palestine. This expansion of Islam took place during 622-632 which was the life time of Mohammad. Then in the next 80 years most of the North Africa was influenced by this Islam during 710 A.D. In 711 A.D. Muslim troops travelled towards Spain. They influenced Spain, some portions of China, France etc., The population in those places rapidly increased and especially majority of African countries are Muslims. Islam is further extended from Moracco to Egypt and today it remained as a crescent. As time went on, there was a break for the spreading of Islam.
In 1070 A.D. the Turks took control of the Arabic power in Israel and Spain.
Christianity and Islam
They conquered Bagdad (Iraq), Persia (Iran) and Anatolia (Turkey). The Turkish
Muslim army threatened Eurpean Christian church in Constantinople. The Muslims became more hostile to Christianity. These two communities even made some barriers for not allowing the Christians to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
These circumstances led the passion of Pope “Urban.” He visited France in 1090 A.D. ordered for the crusades. He took this hasty step only to save the Holy land from their grip. The pope had taken timely action for the sake of all
Christians. These crusades continued from 1090 to 1300 A.D. about two hundred years. They marched with crosses atop. During these two hundred years there were four major crusades and some more minor ones.
There were also children's crusades. The first crusade was at the time of “Jeoffery and Baldwin” who conquered Jerusalem and for 75 years the Latin kingdom was established for the first time. This Latin kingdom was existed under Christian rule and influence. At that time, some major repairs were done in Jerusalem city like enlargement of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, raising of th traditional location of the crucifixion (Calvary) and the burial place of Jesus
Christ and also His resurrection.
In the middst of this era “saludin” (salah-ad-din) the Egyptian Muslim
Mamluk ruler defeated the Christians including the Lionheart of England at Hatten at 1787 A.D. and took back Jerusalem. Many books were written about different kings and their kingdoms during the last five hundred years and also about crusades. All the books were written in Arabic language only. So many people could not read them.
Jerusalem and Dome of the Rock
According to the historical evidence, the Dome of the Rock was built on the mount Morea in Jerusalem. As written in the Bible, in (Genesis 22nd chapter), Abraham took his son Isaac to the mountain as God asked him to do so, in order to sacrifice. And on the same mountain king Solomon built the temple which was destroyed in 586 B.C. Then the second temple on the same foundation was built and that was also destroyed in 70 A.D. as Jesus predicted. It was ruined by Romans.
Then the prominent Muslim leader Caliph-Abd-al-Malik built the “octagonal” domed shrine known today as the “Dome of the Rock” in between
Offsprings from the Tabernacle
689-691 A.D. and that time the dome was covered with lead. Since then the Dome of the Rock became a sacred place to Muslims. Before that it was the place that Abraham took (Ishmael) the Bible name is Isaac in that account. The Muslims also believed Abraham as the father of faithful. These two incidents that are Abraham’s sacrifice of Ishmael (alias) Isaac and Abraham’s faithfulness made the Muslims more concern to the mount of the Dome of the Rock. And it was the place identified as the location where they believed that Mohammed prayed to God and translated into heaven either bodily or in vision.
During the reign of Suleman the Magnificent between 1526-1566 Ottoman
Turk empire reached its height and Suleman rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and that construction remained till today. He restored the Eastern and Western walls of Jerusalem and moved the North wall line to the South; leaving part of the southwest hills of Mount Zion outside of the city. This time the Dome of the Rock was decorated with gold. This golden Dome was again regilded in recent times with more gold. It was decked with blue and yellow geometric patterns with alphabetic Koran verses written in swirls and unlocking Arabic letters.
This is really an impressing sight to the visitors or tourists to Jerusalem.
These visitors should not forget the Holiest place to Muslims in Jerusalem is ‘the Dome of the Rock’. The Holy place to Jews is the western (wailing) wall and the holiest place to Christians is the church of the Holy Sepulcher. And also for many
Bible believers have another holy place and it is the ‘Garden Tomb’.
But during the 1st world war the British tried partially against Turks who were with the central power of Austria, Hungary and Germany. “General
Allenby” conquered Jerusalem for the Allied forces and Jerusalem was held by the British under mandate by the League of Nations from 1917-1947. And in 1945 in the month of May the United Nations Organization asked the British to declare independence to both Israel and Palestine as separate countries. This is historically an important event that the sovereign state of Israel was formed and Israel Jerusalem was created.
In the partition the Dome of the Rock was cut out of the land of Israel and given to the young country Jordan. This was part of the west bank land on the west side of the river Jordan and that place was cut out of the land of Israel and given to Jordan. Then during the “six-day” war in the year 1967, Israel came to know that the surrounding Arab nations were going to attack. But fortunately
Israel won the battle and the west bank territory was kept in their control in spite
Christianity and Islam of the controversy in both external and internal until today. Since the Dome of rock was Muslims Holy place the Israel government gave complete authority and freedom to them to take care of it by themselves.
Muslims in the world
According to authentic information the Muslims population today is about one billion, ie., 100 crores. It may be even more in the world. The Islam actually began in 622 A.D. in Arabia and the initial Muslims were completely Arabic. In Arabic nations the Muslim population was found in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Their religion spread further in the middle Ages.
Many people from the west have an incorrect belief that all Muslims are Arabic and it is equally incorrect that all Arabic’s are Muslims. Many Arab’s in Israel, Libanon and the United States are Christians. In the same way many non-
Arabic people are of Islamic faith. We can find many people of this type in Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are also 2.3 million Muslims in Bosnia, 1 million in Bulgaria and many millions in India and south west Asia.
We can see today the high percentage of Muslim immigrates into European countries. Their population is rapidly increasing in the United States, Germany and France. Each country seemed to have an estimation of 3 million and the Great Britain has 1.5 million Muslims. It is said the Muslim Mosques are more in Britain than Christian churches.
For centuries Christian, Jews and Muslims lived together peacefully and happily. There are even Christian quarters, Jewish quarters and Muslim quarters in Jerusalem. It was done depending upon that particular population lived there.
At other times some Muslim armies went around Europe and South Africa and conquered the places which were originally Christian lands. The crusaders of 12th and 13th centuries saw Christian armies marching forward and tried to recapture the lands that were lost including Holy places in Israel.
If anybody wanted to see “Sharia” (Muslim Law) their out look towards
Christians and Jews and about their countries, they simply oppose the religion and the people as they oppose America and Israel. But there are some moderate
Muslims who always wish for peace and harmony. When all other countries have been trying for peaceful co-existence, America was shattered by the radical
Offsprings from the Tabernacle bombing of the “World Trade Center” in New York. That destruction caused a colossal loss to the American government. So this September 11, 2001 tragic incident was memorable one in American history.
Sunnis and Shiites
After the death of Mohammad the Muslims were divided into two major parties. They were Sunnis and Shiites. The name Sunnis is referred to the majority of the people that followed Islam. They followed the practice of Prophet
Mohammad and they were loyal to the community. The Sunni Muslims followed
Koran and Islamic law and established themselves.
The word “Shiites” is derived from “Sheath Ali” and this party seemed to be the second largest one. The reason why they were separated from ‘sunnis’ was that these Muslims wanted that the highest post like Imam or Caliph must go to the descendents of “Sheath Ali” and Fatima the son-in-law and daughter of prophet Mohammad. The Sunnis opposed the proposal. So the two parties are- the Shiites are the supporters of the cause that the highest position of caliph or Imam must go to the descendents of the sheath Ali and Fatima. And the other party
Sunnis opposed this proposal. Since then these two parties were in existence till today. In the political affairs Saddam Hussein, the ex-president of Iraq belonged to Sunnis party. He happened to kill thousands of shiit members in the country during his reign and he was finally hanged to death. This is the present political condition of the Middle East. Let us hope the United Nations Organization find a permanent solution for the peaceful co-existence of Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.