One of the most popular songs which is still played to this day is Imagine, by ex-Beatle John Lennon. Released in 1971, this song contain the lyrics:
Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace.
Yoo-hoo,
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us,
and the world would be as one.
Dream on.
Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace.
Yoo-hoo,
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us,
and the world would be as one.
I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist to imagine a peaceful, war-free, religion-free global population which is also free from its hold on possessions. No rich man, no poor man, but all wealth distributed equally in a Utopian, socialist fairness for everybody.
Dream on.
Because, probably without Lennon's awareness, such a society actually existed - globally. Maybe not so much as socialist Lennon might have depicted it to have been, but instead, there was enough resources for everyone to own abundantly. However, unlike the paradise island of Atlantis of Plato's Timaeus and Critias, where at first everyone was gentle to each other before greed began to set in, this global population did not provide a pleasant environment to live in at all. Yet in spite of this, there was just one language, there was practically no religion, no national boundaries, and most likely no diversity of racial skin colour, culture, and characteristics. To add to this, their health must have been superb, so close to physical perfection, that an individual can live close to a thousand years. It was also hinted that the women were so stunningly beautiful that even the hosts of Heaven took note. No doubt, the men too, must have been extraordinary handsome with well defined muscular bodies and facial features at which many a modern male would simmer with envy.
No doubt this could be defined as a social experiment for the heavenly host to observe and take note. And what a lesson they had to learn from it. This universal, global society of Homo Sapiens without any national boundaries was a catastrophic disaster! So evil it was, that God himself shook his head in sorrow and regretted that he had ever created mankind in the first place. He had to wipe out the entire primeval human race and start all over again. But if God has ever regretted creating man in the first place, at least he had never regretted redeeming those who believed. Such was the case of Noah, the only righteous man in a population of billions, who had enough faith to believe God's revelation of the coming judgement, and by faith he built the ark to save himself and his family from the universal floodwaters.
But from the decedents of Noah's three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth, again the population grew, sharing the same one language, and like their antediluvian predecessors, they too shook their fists at God by defying his commandment to "populate the whole earth." So they migrated en bloc east, and came across a plain which they named Shinar, located at the Mesopotamian Valley, through which the rivers of Tigris and the Euphrates flows to the Persian Gulf. From there they began to build a city with a tower which reached into the heavens. I believe that this tower was the solidification of mankind's pride, an attempt to reach the heavenly realms by self effort rather than through God's undeserved grace and mercy. This, I think, may be accentuated by the fact that building on a valley floor rather than on one of the mountain ranges on either side, indicating their fullness of pride and rejection of any divine help, in this case providing a natural uplift in physical elevation.
God came down and frustrated their building project by giving them different languages, so no longer understanding each other's speech. The building project was abandoned, and a name given to the site, Babel, meaning Confusion, from which the name Babylon had originated, the name of the city symbolising false religion, which is trying to get right with God by self effort instead of God's grace. It may be worth noting that Babylon is synonymous with Antichrist, a word meaning Instead of Christ, who is the only source of undeserved grace and mercy. As the apostle once said, that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
As the building project was abandoned, everyone found someone whose speech they understood, and each group with the same tongue dispersed across the planet, as God originally intended. As each language drew its own communicators, each group grew in size separately, forming nations, each with its own boundary, speech, and sovereignty. As the Bible so teaches, the concept of nations was not an offset of Evolution, but a system established by God to keep global evil in check, so post-diluvian mankind does not go the same way as the antediluvian population. One group of people, of the line of Shem son of Noah, were the Hebrews, from their father Eber, the fourth generation from Noah. It was in Eber's line where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were born, the forefathers of the nation of Israel, which afterwards, the term Hebrews was specifically applied to them.
The Old Testament seem to endorse patriotism, particularly for Israel. King David, for one, seem to have had a strong dislike for all non-Israelis. One good example of this is found in 1 Samuel 17:26 where his attitude towards Goliath became apparent. When he first saw him, he asked,
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
Uncircumcised. That is, one who was not born of the line of Jacob. He wasn't even born within the line of Shem son of Noah, but of his brother Ham, whose son Canaan Noah had cursed. Goliath was as much an alien in David's eyes as he could possibly be. Other Biblical writers had shown a strong loyalty to Israel above all other nations, including Jeremiah and Daniel, both whose hearts longed for the welfare of Jerusalem, the city where God had chosen to put his name. But their loyalty to Israel as a nation was based on one very important principle: That is Israel as a nation was called by God to be his own people, walking in holiness. Israel was set apart by God - that is, until the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Atonement made by Jesus Christ when he died on the cross was not only for the sins of the world, but to atone for international barriers, especially between the Jews and the non-Jews. The tearing of the curtain inside the Jewish temple, which separated God's presence from all mankind, carried a great deal of meaning. It was torn from top to bottom, a divine act, a symbol that all mankind from all the nations of the world now has access to the presence of God, every sin washed away in his shed blood, in perfect holiness, and in God's good pleasure. Paul couldn't have put it any better:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you (non-Jews) are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:26-29.
Which brings us up to the current immigration crisis. Thousands have fled the unrest from the Middle East, particularly Syria. This unrest is caused by Islamic militants, who wish to impose a state over its people, a religious environment where extreme intolerance causes anyone with a different opinion to be punished by death. Islam, however, is not Christianity. It is a religion of works, to attain a heavenly realm by human effort ordered by the instructions given by their founder Mohammed. According to Islam, one can only be saved by following and obeying the teaching of Mohammed. Their god is Allah, a moon-deity, and not the God of the Bible. Therefore, according to them, salvation is from Allah, the moon god, instead of through Jesus Christ, therefore Antichrist. As a result, war erupts, and refugees are left to flee their homeland by the thousands, with many perishing in their attempt to reach Europe.
And this has split the opinion of the United Kingdom. Those which seem to have a greater sense of national patriotism are against the idea of letting these refugees access to our land. It is the same with Hungary. Over there, a far-right group, akin to being neo-Nazis, are hostile to the refugees who are trying to make their way into Austria and Germany. Then there is the other group who insist that we show compassion by allowing such people to settle into our land. I find it sad, really, that although Jesus' death on the cross has torn down the barriers between nations, nationalists have re-erected these barriers and are keen to close all doors. Therefore how we feel about these desperate refugees attempted to flee war-torn homelands has caused a divisive issue across our land, along with mainland Europeans.
But these issues are political. I'm more concerned about spiritual issues. In other words, for these Muslims to be converted from Mohammed to Jesus Christ, from Allah to the living God. Is such a conversion necessary? Absolutely! Here are some facts:
1. Allah is not the God of the Bible, nor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Instead, Allah is a moon-god, whose crescent symbol adorns the minaret of every Muslim mosque.
2. Muslims hates the Jews, and their desire is to see Israel as a nation pushed into the sea, and annihilated. Muslims also wants to see all true Christian believers killed. Christians as a whole has a respect for the Jews.
3. Islamic salvation is gotten only by human effort under the obedience of the Koran, written by Mohammed their founder. Biblical salvation is through undeserved grace and mercy from God through faith only.
4. Mohammed died on the 8th June 632 AD. His bones are still with us, buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The Lord Jesus died by crucifixion, was buried, and on the third day after his death, was resurrected physically. The tomb of Jesus remains empty to this day.
5. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead not only guarantees our salvation, but it's vibrant proof that this Jesus is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, and God himself. Since Mohammad is dead, he is none of these, instead, his bones awaits the resurrection to judgement.
6. Muslims have a hatred for all "heretics" i.e. non Muslims. The quest within the Christian's heart is to bring all men to Jesus Christ through faith, borne out of love for them.
7. Every Christian believer had experience a new birth in his spirit, and he is a new creation, adopted forever into God's family, and therefore will not be judged as sinners. The Muslim is a slave to a dead man, and he is not a son of Allah, neither is he adopted into his family, but will either save or damn each Muslim in accordance to how committed he was to his obedience to Mohammed.
As such, I believe that we as a nation should show greater compassion to these refugees. After all, we have much spare land, enough even to build a whole new city, providing jobs and a new source of economy. The price to pay is our national pride. But far more important than this, are efforts made to persuade them that Jesus Christ is a much better person to trust than Mohammed. But this conversion to the love of Christ should not be limited to the refugees only. Rather, the love of God through Jesus Christ must percolate into the Islamic heartlands. This included reaching the advocates of ISIS and other radical groups that Christ is far better than their "prophet". Only then will many of the problems in this world will be solved.
And John Lennon will have something to sing about.
But from the decedents of Noah's three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth, again the population grew, sharing the same one language, and like their antediluvian predecessors, they too shook their fists at God by defying his commandment to "populate the whole earth." So they migrated en bloc east, and came across a plain which they named Shinar, located at the Mesopotamian Valley, through which the rivers of Tigris and the Euphrates flows to the Persian Gulf. From there they began to build a city with a tower which reached into the heavens. I believe that this tower was the solidification of mankind's pride, an attempt to reach the heavenly realms by self effort rather than through God's undeserved grace and mercy. This, I think, may be accentuated by the fact that building on a valley floor rather than on one of the mountain ranges on either side, indicating their fullness of pride and rejection of any divine help, in this case providing a natural uplift in physical elevation.
God came down and frustrated their building project by giving them different languages, so no longer understanding each other's speech. The building project was abandoned, and a name given to the site, Babel, meaning Confusion, from which the name Babylon had originated, the name of the city symbolising false religion, which is trying to get right with God by self effort instead of God's grace. It may be worth noting that Babylon is synonymous with Antichrist, a word meaning Instead of Christ, who is the only source of undeserved grace and mercy. As the apostle once said, that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
As the building project was abandoned, everyone found someone whose speech they understood, and each group with the same tongue dispersed across the planet, as God originally intended. As each language drew its own communicators, each group grew in size separately, forming nations, each with its own boundary, speech, and sovereignty. As the Bible so teaches, the concept of nations was not an offset of Evolution, but a system established by God to keep global evil in check, so post-diluvian mankind does not go the same way as the antediluvian population. One group of people, of the line of Shem son of Noah, were the Hebrews, from their father Eber, the fourth generation from Noah. It was in Eber's line where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were born, the forefathers of the nation of Israel, which afterwards, the term Hebrews was specifically applied to them.
The Old Testament seem to endorse patriotism, particularly for Israel. King David, for one, seem to have had a strong dislike for all non-Israelis. One good example of this is found in 1 Samuel 17:26 where his attitude towards Goliath became apparent. When he first saw him, he asked,
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
Uncircumcised. That is, one who was not born of the line of Jacob. He wasn't even born within the line of Shem son of Noah, but of his brother Ham, whose son Canaan Noah had cursed. Goliath was as much an alien in David's eyes as he could possibly be. Other Biblical writers had shown a strong loyalty to Israel above all other nations, including Jeremiah and Daniel, both whose hearts longed for the welfare of Jerusalem, the city where God had chosen to put his name. But their loyalty to Israel as a nation was based on one very important principle: That is Israel as a nation was called by God to be his own people, walking in holiness. Israel was set apart by God - that is, until the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Atonement made by Jesus Christ when he died on the cross was not only for the sins of the world, but to atone for international barriers, especially between the Jews and the non-Jews. The tearing of the curtain inside the Jewish temple, which separated God's presence from all mankind, carried a great deal of meaning. It was torn from top to bottom, a divine act, a symbol that all mankind from all the nations of the world now has access to the presence of God, every sin washed away in his shed blood, in perfect holiness, and in God's good pleasure. Paul couldn't have put it any better:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you (non-Jews) are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:26-29.
Which brings us up to the current immigration crisis. Thousands have fled the unrest from the Middle East, particularly Syria. This unrest is caused by Islamic militants, who wish to impose a state over its people, a religious environment where extreme intolerance causes anyone with a different opinion to be punished by death. Islam, however, is not Christianity. It is a religion of works, to attain a heavenly realm by human effort ordered by the instructions given by their founder Mohammed. According to Islam, one can only be saved by following and obeying the teaching of Mohammed. Their god is Allah, a moon-deity, and not the God of the Bible. Therefore, according to them, salvation is from Allah, the moon god, instead of through Jesus Christ, therefore Antichrist. As a result, war erupts, and refugees are left to flee their homeland by the thousands, with many perishing in their attempt to reach Europe.
 |
| A refugee child lies drowned on a beach in Turkey. |
And this has split the opinion of the United Kingdom. Those which seem to have a greater sense of national patriotism are against the idea of letting these refugees access to our land. It is the same with Hungary. Over there, a far-right group, akin to being neo-Nazis, are hostile to the refugees who are trying to make their way into Austria and Germany. Then there is the other group who insist that we show compassion by allowing such people to settle into our land. I find it sad, really, that although Jesus' death on the cross has torn down the barriers between nations, nationalists have re-erected these barriers and are keen to close all doors. Therefore how we feel about these desperate refugees attempted to flee war-torn homelands has caused a divisive issue across our land, along with mainland Europeans.
But these issues are political. I'm more concerned about spiritual issues. In other words, for these Muslims to be converted from Mohammed to Jesus Christ, from Allah to the living God. Is such a conversion necessary? Absolutely! Here are some facts:
1. Allah is not the God of the Bible, nor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Instead, Allah is a moon-god, whose crescent symbol adorns the minaret of every Muslim mosque.
2. Muslims hates the Jews, and their desire is to see Israel as a nation pushed into the sea, and annihilated. Muslims also wants to see all true Christian believers killed. Christians as a whole has a respect for the Jews.
3. Islamic salvation is gotten only by human effort under the obedience of the Koran, written by Mohammed their founder. Biblical salvation is through undeserved grace and mercy from God through faith only.
4. Mohammed died on the 8th June 632 AD. His bones are still with us, buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The Lord Jesus died by crucifixion, was buried, and on the third day after his death, was resurrected physically. The tomb of Jesus remains empty to this day.
5. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead not only guarantees our salvation, but it's vibrant proof that this Jesus is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, and God himself. Since Mohammad is dead, he is none of these, instead, his bones awaits the resurrection to judgement.
6. Muslims have a hatred for all "heretics" i.e. non Muslims. The quest within the Christian's heart is to bring all men to Jesus Christ through faith, borne out of love for them.
7. Every Christian believer had experience a new birth in his spirit, and he is a new creation, adopted forever into God's family, and therefore will not be judged as sinners. The Muslim is a slave to a dead man, and he is not a son of Allah, neither is he adopted into his family, but will either save or damn each Muslim in accordance to how committed he was to his obedience to Mohammed.
As such, I believe that we as a nation should show greater compassion to these refugees. After all, we have much spare land, enough even to build a whole new city, providing jobs and a new source of economy. The price to pay is our national pride. But far more important than this, are efforts made to persuade them that Jesus Christ is a much better person to trust than Mohammed. But this conversion to the love of Christ should not be limited to the refugees only. Rather, the love of God through Jesus Christ must percolate into the Islamic heartlands. This included reaching the advocates of ISIS and other radical groups that Christ is far better than their "prophet". Only then will many of the problems in this world will be solved.
And John Lennon will have something to sing about.
Dear Frank,
ReplyDeleteAs I was teaching in my ladies' Bible study today, Jesus summarized the 10 Commandments by saying "Love God; love one another." If mankind could do that, there would be no more war, no division, no national or cultural boundaries. We can't because of our sin nature, but praise God, He will come again to rule in perfect peace, justice and love. We will all be united in worshiping Him and loving Him and one another, and there will be no more sea, or national division and strife.
Thanks as always for the enlightening, well-written post. God bless,
Laurie
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteNo matter what anyone has tried, or will try, to achieve through their own efforts, there is only one way to reach God and come into His kingdom, and that is through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Once we are in Him then that Word is Spiritually discerned to those who have been born again, and our minds become renewed in Him. We learn God's ways, Whose ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts.
The world is in chaos without Jesus, but God has a plan, and we can be part of that plan by being obedient to Him according to what He calls us to do. We can do nothing without Him, but we can pray for all of mankind to come to the knowledge of salvation through Jesus.
God bless.
Unfortunately, like the US, the UK has largely forgotten the principles of Christianity. As a result, even efforts to absorb the refugees only create other problems because they are done, not out of love and obedience to God but with a political or economic focus, usually leading to even more problems, such as the implementation of Sharia law.and racial conflict. While we try to help them, we need to work on our own spiritual state as well.
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