Kingdom of Flesh & Spirit

Introduction

We have been working to examine the roots and the backgrounds of both the religion of Islam and the nation of Israel so that we can better understand not just world events but the religious overtones of world events have been swirling about us over the last couple of years. And we have now come to a very challenging part, and that is examining and comparing and making decisions. Have you ever seen a kid at an ice cream shop that had a lot of flavors? It’s a very difficult situation for them to be in. They have the hardest time making a decision. And we all face things where we must make a decision and we we struggle with those decisions, and sometimes we just postpone making a decision. But when it comes to religious matters, when it comes to matters connected to our soul and our spiritual destiny, we must make decisions.

We cannot be apathetic. And there are a lot of people who would rather not make a decision regarding religious matters and selecting what is true and what is right and what is not, and rejecting those things, but really our spiritual destiny depends upon those things. And as we come down to this last presentation about Muslim, Jews, and Christians searching for answers in the face of conflict, we must for sure eliminate one possible option in searching for answers. In our culture, religious pluralism rules today, rules the day. Which is the idea that people can have various religious beliefs and it’s totally acceptable. That people can have totally different ideas about what is right and how to serve God and how to be right with God, and really those differences don’t matter at all.

It’s great that we live in a society that provides us political freedom to make religious choices, but when it comes down to our religious choices, does it matter what we believe, or is it of no consequence what we believe as long as we’re sincere about that? Of course, this series of lessons were prompted originally, and probably in part from your own interest by the events of September 11, 2001, and the aftermath of that. And I want you to think about that day. I want you to consider what took place. The day that the hijackers seize by violent force the controls of those aircraft, slaughtering crew members and others on the planes. And the day they crashed those airplanes into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon.

It should have been a wake-up call to us in our society that religious pluralism is harmless. Because those men who were politying and seizing control of those aircraft to the men, they all believed they were doing the will of God. They all believed that they were doing deeds that pleased their God, and they were quite sincere in that. And how can you live by the philosophy that any religion you have and any religious belief you have is acceptable as long as you’re sincere? When that kind of philosophy can produce such evil deeds. In all fairness, not everyone who is a Muslim would agree with those acts that day. They would not endorse such activity. Matter of fact, in all fairness, the majority of Muslim people, uh, throughout, at least this country and in great part of the world, would not go to that extent in the name of their religion.

But that’s just one very graphic example of how that religious pluralism doesn’t work. There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong. And though we may have a choice, we can make the wrong choice. And that how, that rejecting a joy of choice, or at least minimizing our choices and saying that they’re not important, it’s just something that doesn’t work. And actually, when it comes to Christianity and in Islam, they do not leave that option. Jesus said in John chapter 14, before he was put to death, Jesus says, speaking to his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to me or to the Father except through me. Jesus taught the exclusive nature of Christianity that to believe in him was the only way to be right with God.

Islam also teaches that it’s an exclusive religion and that their way is the only way. Surah 9 says in verse 33, he it is who hath sent his apostle with the guidance and a religion of the truth, that he may make it victorious over every other religion. There may be someone who claims to be a Muslim who says, Well, I’m a Muslim and you’re a Christian, and this person’s a Jew, and this person’s a Hindu, but we’re all going to the same creator, and it’s all going to be okay in the end. That Muslim is not being faithful to his holy book. Because the Quran teaches that God’s intent, that Allah’s intent was for Islam to be victorious over every other religion, and that the truth came from Allah to Muhammad through the Quran.

Christianity is exclusive, and Islam is exclusive, and neither one of those religions, in their original form, allow for religious pluralism. Which means you and I are going to have to make some judgments. We’re going to have to investigate, study, search, analyze, and then we’re going to have to make some choices for some things and against some other things. And how fair we are, and how honest we are, and how diligent we are in that search is crucial. And our soul depends upon it. And this material in the last two lessons is intended for you to use in your own search and even to prompt you to search further and making your own judgments and your own decisions about what is true and what is right. Please don’t stop investigating after this weekend, but always do that.

1. The Prophethood of Jesus Versus the Prophethood of Muhammad

I want to talk to you tonight about two things. First of all, the prophethood of Jesus versus the prophethood of Muhammad. This is part of the crux of the issue. Was Mohammed a prophet of God? And especially as you compare him to Jesus, the Christ, how do they compare? I want you to just basically look at the claims of Muhammad and Jesus regarding their proof that they were speaking for God. Jesus spoke of his signs in John chapter 10, where he said in verse 37, if I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is me and I am you.

Jesus knew that there were certain people who did not like what he was teaching. And they did not accept him for various reasons. He had not been trained like other Jewish rabbis. He was from Galilee. He was a nobody. And Jesus is saying, listen, if you don’t believe me, in other words, if you’re not taking my word for it, look at the works that I do. Jesus healed the sick and restore sight to the blind. He walked on the water. He provided miraculously a large portion of food from a very small portion, feeding of the 5,000, he even raised the dead. And he kept challenging those around him to examine the works that I do. He did not ask people to merely take his word for it, that he was speaking the message of God.

But rather he said, look at what I do, and then you make the conclusion. You make the decision. Look at the works that I do and see that the Father is in me. And if you look at the works of Jesus and you see the works of God taking place in him, that proves that he is from God, which means that what he is saying is true, and his message is to be believed. What about Muhammad? What signs did Muhammad provide? As this reference from the Quran indicates, Muslims teach that the main sign and the sign of Muhammad was the Quran itself. The message that he had in Surah 46. And when our clear signs are recited to them, will they say, He hath devised it?

Say, and this is people criticizing Muhammad, and then here’s the response. Say, if I have devised the Quran, then not one single thing shall ye ever obtain from me from God, for me from God. He best knoweth what ye utter in its regard. Witness enough is he between me and you. Say, I am no apostle of new doctrines, neither know I what will be done with me or you. Only what is revealed to me do I follow, and I am only charged to warn you openly. And there are several statements like this in the Quran. And basically what Muhammad is saying is that when people say to me, You’re not the prophet of God, show us and prove to us you’re the prophet of God, that Muhammad’s response was, listen, the only sign you’re going to get is the message that I’m giving you.

And if you don’t see that this message from me is from God, then you’ve been warned, blood’s on your head, so be it. Mohammed did not perform signs to prove that he was a prophet of God. There is no indication of miracles in the life of Muhammad. There are some references, as we noted this morning, that he prophesied, and we examine that evidence, and that evidence or lack of it stands on its own. But Muhammad was not the man who went around saying, Look at what I’m doing, look at these signs, which cannot be produced by mere human power, and then you make the decision, don’t take my word for it. But rather Mohammed said, I’m speaking the truth of God, take my word for it.

Because that’s all you’re going to get. Look at these two prophets. One says, Look at my deeds. Don’t just take my word for it and evaluate my works to see if it’s of God. The other one says, Here is a message, which was later formed in a volume called the Quran. And there were revelations that were received in private. Muslims teach that he was alone and Mount Hero when he began to get the first revelation. And it was usually in private when he received the revelations from God. It was just him receiving a message from Allah through Gabriel. That’s it. No other witnesses. And when he spoke this message, the message was not accompanied by signs, miracles, wonders, or any other kind of divine or miraculous work.

He just said, I speak for God, take my word for it. There’s a big difference there. Some of you know that my friend John Mulligan’s with me today. And I have no better friend in all the world than John. John’s never lied to me that I know of.

I have a lot of trust in John. But if one day John called me up on the phone and he said, Hey, Phil, I’ve got a message for you from God. And I said, Well, okay, what scripture is it? Where do you want me to turn? He said, No, no, no, no. Not in the Bible. I’ve got a message that God gave me for you. I’d say, wait just a minute. Even though I trust him and I respect him, there’s no way I’m going to accept the fact that he’s speaking for God unless he can somehow prove that God is involved in this process. Jesus the prophet said, Don’t disbelieve me. Look at the works that I do and see that the Father is in me.

2. The Nature of the Kingdoms

And thus my word should be heeded. Muhammad said, I don’t make this up. I’m warning you, and this is your opportunity. And when he received these messages, he was alone. Compare those two prophets. Did Jesus provide proof of his prophethood? Did Muhammad provide proof that his messages were actually revelations from God? How can you know that Muhammad really spoke the word of God? Word proof. Compared to Jesus. It’s just not there. Which brings us to the second comparison. And that is the nature of the kingdoms. Much has been discussed for a long time regarding all these religions, Judaism, Christianity, as well as Islam, as to whether they are peaceful religions or not. And it’s a fair question. But a more conclusive question is what kind of kingdoms are they?

Because in a way they’re all kingdoms. They’re all movements. What kind of movements are they? What kind of causes are they? Because that will help us to answer are they peaceful and will help us to determine the role of, well, unpeaceful methods such as armed conflict or the use of force. What about these three? Well, first of all, consider Judaism. We really just looked at a quick history when it’s a Thursday night of the history of Israel, bringing it up to modern times and looking at how the modern state of Israel was formed. But understand that Judaism, in its original form in the Old Testament, was a civil and a religious system. They were instructed in the law of Moses, how to worship in the tabernacle, how to organize the priesthood, and what sacrifices to bring, on what day and on what occasion.

But they were also instructed in the law of Moses about how to carry out their business dealings with their neighbor. They were instructed about land transactions. They were instructed about liability, about if your animal took its horns and stuck it in somebody, who was responsible for that. It was a civil and a religious code. Judaism involved all of it. And what about modern Israel? Well, the same could be said to a certain extent.

We see that Moses led Israelites into battle. We see especially that Joshua, who brought them into the land of Canaan after Moses departed, that he was a military commander, and so was David, and so was Saul. And this was all part of God’s plan. And there’s two points about that. First of all, it was God commanding them to carry out these military actions, and when they were carrying them out, they were carrying them out mostly against the Canaanites or other nations who were ungodly, who were paganistic, who were immoral, who were people who, in their religion, some of them actually sacrificed their children to their gods. That’s how profane and degraded they were morally. And the Bible tells us in the Old Testament that it was God’s judgment upon these people to use the Israelites to punish them, as later on when the Israelites turned against God, and believe it or not, some of the Israelites practiced the very same things that I just named to use people like the Assyrians and the Babylonians to punish them physically.

Why? It’s because Israel in the Old Testament was a physical nation, and it was involved in this earthly struggle of property and land and goods and everything else. Israel was a means to an end. It was a physical nation that God used to carry out his ultimate purpose. And though he used it more than any other nation, he also used Egypt. He also used Assyria and Babylon and Persia to carry out his purposes. And sometimes it involved physical battles. But you see, as we have noted, God has used.