All peoples who look for a true and good God (Heb 11:6), those who look for a God who will help us with our problems, wonder how He will accomplish that feat.
What about ISIS? What about all the varied forms of terrorism?
What about -all- the many other problems faced by mankind?
There is a simple and beautiful solution provided in the Bible. What you might not realize is this, understanding that solution involves your knowing and having a personal relationship with the God who was named and worshiped during the Bible's four thousand year record leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ and Christianity. We should start, however, in considering a distraction that causes a lot of confusion about our personally knowing God. If you are not able to recognize and set aside that distraction and source of confusion, you may not be able to recognize the true God or his beautiful solution to our problems
In our modern age, there exists what has become a popular sentiment expressed in times of trouble: "Each one should pray to the God they worship, and by what ever name they call him." People no doubt mean well when they say such things, but that idea forms the very definition and basis of religious division. False religion has been the great injury of humanity from creation until our day.
We can see an example of such a "pray to your own God philosophy" by considering modern Syria and Iraq. We there find an example of such worship, and we see its results. In a greatly simplified explanation of that environment: A war rages in those nations between three groups, the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis. They all worship a God, and all claim to do so through the Islamic form of worship according to the Koran. As for the works their worship manifests in them: they do their best to exterminate each other based on their religion, while they all pray to their own God and by what ever name they call him. In this case, they actually call him all by the same name: Allah. It should be noted the Kurds seem to be more tolerant than the others because they favor a more secular form of government (they see some value in a separation of church and state). Grass roots religious people exercising the power of government have always been a very bad thing. If there really is a true God, shouldn't worshipping him make people more tolerant of others, instead of making them want to kill everyone not joining their sect?
What do we witness today (and throughout mankind's history) from people who worship their own God by the name they have chosen to call him? Isis is a radical Sunni group who recently distinguished itself in Syria and Iraq for its brutality. They quickly developed fame for horribly abusing and killing women and children, and everyone who isn't ISIS. They recently laid siege to the Kurdish city of Kuboni, Syria (2014). Their horrible reputation of slaughtering women and children without compassion had preceded them when they attacked Kuboni. While some inhabitants of Kuboni fled across the border into Turkey, knowing they would be herded into camps where nobody wanted them, many others stayed to fight. To date of this writing they hold Isis partially at bay, but many people are being killed on both sides. One nineteen year old female school teacher from Kuboni said she could not leave her home. She keeps a hand grenade on her person at all times as she joins the fight against ISIS. She says she will die there by her own hand rather than be captured, or else they will defeat their tormentors. She will not cower before the monsters trying to kill her. She certainly seems noble in her aspirations. Who could not wish her well?
What will be the result, however, if the Kurds drive Isis out of Kuboni. Will they pursue them to insure they don't return? If they chase then into one of their Isis (extremist Sunni) cities, what action will the Kurds take against it's ISIS inhabitants, including it's women and children? We do not ask such questions to in any way suggest support for ISIS. All murderers and terrorists need to be destroyed. There are just so many of them, or so many others just like them ready to spread hatred throughout our earth! The point we make is this: How can all of them be justly sorted and all the wicked among them disposed of? The true God has a plan to do just that. That plan by the true God is what we strive to understand, and what we want to help others understand.
We have herein drawn attention to Isis, but it could just as easily be any one of most of the other religious groups of mankind's history. The holy Roman Church State of the dark ages burned, tortured, crucified, and in any other horrendous way they could imagine, murdered hundreds of thousands of men, women and children over hundreds of years. They sometimes managed to take days to kill someone, and they did so publicly. All those people were killed by the religious state for crimes against the Church, such as witchcraft or apostasy. What they were really killed for was speaking against the church or it's leaders. The Catholics and Protestants (Protestant herein meaning any asserted Christian group which is not Catholic) murdered each other in Ireland and other nations until only recently. On and on the list could go. Even though they each one believe this statement is not true concerning them, all fundamental religious groups are intolerant of others. How could they not be intolerant - once they convince themselves they are God's chosen ones??? In their mind, they are true believers while all others are infidels or "lost." Of course they are judgmental and intolerant!
Now we would like you to consider knowing a God who is very, very different from all others: please recognize the true God of the Bible who therein predates Christianity by four thousand years!
Please take some time to consider the the Bible, and to understand why really knowing its God does not create followers who become arrogant and intolerant. See how he rather teaches his followers to be the exact opposite: to be loving and kind.
As you consider the Bible, please also consider that there actually is only one real and true God, and that he has told us by what name we should call him. Also, he has clearly and distinctly communicated what he expects of us. We can know him personally by means of that communication, and we can also know His beautiful and simple solution for all mankind's problems, including ISIS.
The Bible provides a sensible account of mankind's existence as nothing else does. The Bible, and common sense, teach that those who are trying to be good people will produce good fruits in their lives (or will do good works) as the result of their righteous inclination. Adherence to the Bible's principles and standards provides good and peace in the life of those who follow it. No other book or religion does that. That is one way you can know the Bible is true: by the stark contrast between those who follow it's teachings, and the others we have mentioned - the bad works by all those who "pray to their own God and by what ever name they have chosen to give him." (Opponents of the Bible will now assert self proclaimed Christian groups [like the Holy Roman Church/State of the dark ages] followed the Bible while they committed the atrocities we mentioned above. Everyone needs to understand: They did not follow Bible teachings! Please consider what follows to understand how we can know they did not.) In the Bible's pre-Christian account, it teaches God created man and woman and intended them to live forever in the paradise earthly home he had created for them. They were to have children and to fill the earth with happy loving people. (Gen 1:26-28 & 31) God did not, however, make us robots. He rather gave us freedom as sons and daughters. The love we can each make the choice to give our Father and Creator is ours alone to give; or to withhold, if that is our choice. A part of the freedom our Father gave us, you see, was freedom of choice - including the choice between good and bad. Sadly, our first parents chose bad, and they made that choice before they had children. Their punishment was death, even as they had been warned. (Gen 3:1-5) All of us, then, have been born from parents who had sinned and were already in the process of dying, and so we were born under the condemnation of death. (Ps 51:5) It is similar to a person who disobeys God's directions and contracts a terrible disease. When he has a child, the child has the disease as well. That does not make the man's disobedience God's fault. It is also not God's fault his child is born with the disease.
God knew, however (in spite of the bad choice and failure by Adam and Eve), that his creation was good. He knew, if given the chance, some of his yet unborn children (who would become the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve) would choose good and life. Thus, in the third chapter of the first book of the Bible, in Genesis 3:15, God promised He would raise up a seed from the woman who would crush Satan's head (provide help for all of Adam's future sons and daughters, or at least for all those among them who would accept his help). (Satan was mentioned because he was the one who instigated the disobedience by Adam and Eve.) That first Bible promise by God, that "seed of the woman" or his promised deliverer, would later prove to be the Messiah, Jesus Christ. That introduction of Christianity would take, however, four thousand years from Adam's day to the birth of Christ.
The Old Testament (OT) portion of the Bible goes on to provide the four thousand year record of that great work by God to produce his promised Messiah. It records the men and women he used to produce the Messiah, and gave prophecies so we could identify him when he arrived. Following that OT record, the New Testament (NT) starts by recording Messiah's appearance in it's first four books of (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The rest of the NT accounts (in prophecy) mankind's two thousand year existence since Jesus's first appearance. It also records the efforts of those who tried to apply Jesus's teachings in their lives and it promises a second coming by Christ, this time as a powerful King. Once you realize those simple facts, and the periods of time recorded by the Bible, it becomes an easy thing to understand it as a whole. You can recognize how secular history alongside Bible history forms a perfect blend in support of truth.
Remember: What we want to consideration here is what God we should pray to, by what name we should call him, and whether that is an easy thing to know. God actually made that plain for us in the Bible! (Isaiah 12:2 & 26:4; Psalm 83:18; Exodus 6:3) The God who created Adam and Eve wanted us to know and use his personal name so much so, he had it recorded over six thousand times in the most ancient copies of the original Hebrew Scriptures (OT). The English translation of that self given name of God is Jehovah! (You can visit any public library to verify what we say is true. We mention public library because many so called Christian groups try to hide the name of the God of creation. Some don't even know it!) The true God clearly wanted us to know his personal name. Jehovah is not a title, it is the personal name of the God of Creation. Can you really say you know someone if you don't even know his name?
Remember, we boldly stated we should be able to recognize the true God by how his teachings impact his followers? To start in recognizing that difference, let us consider how the early Bible followers of Jehovah compare in their actions and behavior with the religious factions we have considered above? The first thing many people will say is the Hebrew God of the Bible was a God of war. While it is true Jehovah led his nation in wars against their enemies, he was first and foremost a God of love. He first tried, in every case, to give those nations a way out. That love by him for all people was also manifest by those people who truly followed him.
To understand the reason for the existence of the people God used as his chosen nation during the pre-Christian record, we should start by remembering the promise Jehovah made to all mankind in Genesis 3:15: to provide a Messiah who would offer help for all future men and women. After He made that promise, Jehovah God had to make it so. He used faithful men and women from among mankind to produce (to be forefathers of) the Messiah. Three of those men were Abraham, Abraham's son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob (Jacob whom God renamed Israel - Gen 32:27-28). The Jewish nation (or nation of Israel) were all descendants of those men, and it is because of God's promises to produce the Messiah through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their nation was used and protected by God. (Deu 9:4-6) He looked after them as a nation to fulfill His purpose of producing that promised Messiah. Jesus was born from that Jewish nation. It was not that most of them were special, or were good people. (Deu 9:6) They simply found themselves in a favored position because of, and to fulfill their role in, the outworking of God's purpose. They were blessed to be a tool being used by Jehovah to produce the Messiah: He would obviously need to protect them from those nations who wanted to destroy them. So, it was only against those who willfully chose some wicked course for themselves that Jehovah ever manifest himself as a God of war. Even in such cases, he was first a God of love by warning them ahead of time:
Consider the nation of Egypt. In 1513 BCE (over 1500 years before the birth of Christ), Egypt was the world power of all the earth. They had abused the Jewish nation by taking them as slaves. This they did, even though Jehovah had extended the Egyptians favor and loving kindness by means of the Jews. Jehovah then raised up Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt; as well as to provide the Egyptians with every possible warning. God struck them with plague after plague, trying to get them to free his people. Those plagues were assaults on the false God's whom the Egyptians had chosen to worship, as well as the names by which they had chosen to call them. Finally, Jehovah destroyed Pharaoh (who was also worshipped by the Egyptians as a God), along with all his military might in the Red Sea. He warned the Egyptians over and over - before taking that action! At the destruction of the Egyptians, the Jewish nation became the world power of their day. They were then delivered into the land promised their forefathers, so Jehovah could continue to use them in his purpose to produce the promised Messiah. (Deu 9:4-6) It is interesting to note: a vast mixed company of non-Jews had joined the Hebrews in worshipping Jehovah. They were delivered through the Red Sea right along with the Jews. (Read Genesis, Chapters 37 & 39-50 & Exodus, Chapters 1-12.)
The fame of Jehovah spread throughout all the earth because of the destruction of Egypt and because of his other mighty works. He clearly manifest himself as the only true God, and He identified the Jews as the nation of People He was using. Every sensible person in the earth could know that. The vast mixed company who wisely left Egypt with the Jews knew that. Rahab was a woman who lived in Jericho and showed herself to be wise. Because she recognized, appreciated and feared the true God, she befriended the Jews sent to spy out her land. When the city fell, Jehovah miraculously spared her and all her father's household. Rahab was then chosen to become one of those in the line of people used to produce the Messiah, even thought she was not a Jew. Rahab became an ancestress of Christ Jesus. (Read Joshua 2:1-6:25 & Mat 1:1 & 5) Jehovah loved and protected the righteously inclined people in all the earth, whether or not they were Jews. That love is what distinguishes Jehovah from all other Gods. Any person of the earth in those days who recognized Jehovah as the true God, and recognized He was the God of the Jews, could approach the Jews to become a Jewish proselyte. Proselytes were not slaves of the Jews, but were protected by God's law from being mistreated. Being a proselyte was not a provision of of pity, or even of kindness by the Jews. It was a loving provision by Jehovah God, in behalf of all those in the earth who were sincere hearted but not born Jews. Except for the times He helped the Jews destroy those who were trying to destroy them, Jehovah always showed himself a God of love and kindness. (Some persons might mention cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah, but those cites were hateful and destructive toward everyone. [Gen 18:20-19:29]) God made provision through that proselyte arrangement for His lovingkindness to be displayed to every man and woman of goodwill throughout all the earth.
Jehovah is nothing like other Gods. He is the true God of creation and he exposes himself in the Bible. His teachings have a real and positive impact on the lives of His followers like no other God has or will have.
What about our original question though: What about ISIS! What about all the problems? That's what most of us want to know: If the true God is Jehovah, how is He helping us? Mankind it today caught up in a tribulation that is consuming our earth. There is just one problem or set of problems after another. Most people try to pretend it isn't happening and to pursue a "normal" life. That is a choice you can make as well. Ask yourself, though, when one person out of four in the earth is starving as just the first problem we mention, what is a "normal" life? Will you try to imagine they are all just people who didn't put forth effort and are getting what they deserve. A better and wiser choice is to realize the truth, and to learn where we are with regard to God's timetable of purposed events. Learn what we can do to help ourselves by our working in harmony with him. The truth is: All these problems trace back to, and are the result of, mankind's rebellion against Jehovah God six thousand years ago in the Garden of Eden. Right after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to raise up a savior. He fulfilled that promise when Jesus appeared four thousand years later (and two thousand years ago from our point of view). While Jesus was alive on the earth, he taught us to know and love his Father Jehovah. (Mat 11:27) Jesus also taught us he would return a second time, this time as a powerful king to enforce his Father's will on earth. (Mat 6:9-10 ; Mark 14:61-62) That brings us, then, to our day in time, and to the knowledge that Jesus is now our reigning King. Because we can't yet see him, doesn't mean he isn't ruling. (2 Kings 6:15-17)
Jesus told us it would be that way saying his second appearance would be in the clouds and unseen to all except those who were looking for him through eyes of faith. (Mark 14:61-62 ; Rev 14:14 ; Acts 1:9-11) That is the key to our salvation. The only hope for any of us is to be marked in our forehead by expressing faith in what Jesus Christ taught. (Eze 9:2-6 - What you are doing with your life indicates where your mind is centered and can be your mark for life.) To express faith, we must start by knowing what Jesus taught. It is our express faith in those teachings by which we can preserve ourselves alive through the end of this tribulation. No man can help you. No government can help you. Not all the wealth, or power, or any other thing this world has to offer can help you. Only your faith in Christ Jesus can help. (Acts 4:12) That is the arrangement for life by his Father Jehovah. (Acts 2:22-32) You must know and express faith in those simple truths.
The truth of the Bible is simple and beautiful and pure, and it is wondrous in our eyes: (Ps 118:17-25; note verse 23)
The warning Jesus gave helping us to identify our day and to rely on his promises: (Luke 21:10-19) 10 Then he went on to say to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and in one place after another pestilences and food shortages; and there will be fearful sights and from heaven great signs. 12 “But before all these things people will lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, you being haled before kings and governors for the sake of my name. 13 It will turn out to you for a witness. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to rehearse beforehand how to make your defense, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your opposers together will not be able to resist or dispute. 16 Moreover, you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death; 17 and you will be objects of hatred by all people because of my name. 18 And yet not a hair of your heads will by any means perish. 19 By endurance on your part you will acquire your lives.
(2 Chronicles 15:7) And you, be courageous and do not let your hands drop down, because there exists a reward for your activity.”
(Romans 5:3) And not only that, but let us exult while in tribulations, since we know that tribulation produces endurance;
(Hebrews 10:36) For you have need of endurance, in order that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the [fulfillment of the] promise.
(Matthew 24:36-42) 36 “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; 39 and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken along and the other be abandoned; 41 two women will be grinding at the hand mill: one will be taken along and the other be abandoned. 42 Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Please recognize religion and Christianity as very different! Religion is a snare and a racket. Religions consume their "sheep" (use up the life and energies of their members) by directing them to organizational doctrine, and then to being concerned with having an approved membership in their group. Next, they delude them to believe they should pursue a "normal" way of life: a white house with a picket fence and a manicured lawn. Their intent is for each member to contribute their resources to the group, trying to persuade them it is supporting their sect that will provide life for them. All the while, a tribulation is consuming our world. (Mat 24:21-22) There is no "normal way of life" for any person who has a loving concern for their fellowman. All these religious groups perform works that mostly prove to be valueless under close scrutiny, or of limited value at best. Millions of people are being murdered or driven from their homes by religious monsters who kill everyone who disagrees with them. Those who are displaced flee to camps created by people who don't want them, nor do they know what to do with them or how to care for them. Churches encourage support to carry rice to them, so they are fed day to day in the camps with little hope for a future. That is a good work and even necessary to sustain life, but it does nothing to solve the problem, nor does it educate people to what the real solution is. In addition to war, economies are failing in many nations and people loose their homes and everything they have to poverty. Others, who are trying to do good, clean up abandoned homes and make provision to move some of those poor souls into them. Most loose those homes shortly afterward, because the underlying problems are not solved. Those may all be noble efforts, but it still leaves most people with no understanding of what is happening to them and why. It doesn't help them to be able to pray to the true God for help. None of us can actually solve the problems, of course, but we can help everyone understand God is in the process of solving them, all of them. That's what people really need. As part of that understanding, they need to know Satan is responsible for all our problems, so they won't be blaming God. They need to know about the solution, to know about the established kingdom of Christ, so they can express their personal faith in that kingdom. It is so simple to help them gain that knowledge:
Teach them what the Bible teaches: Six thousand years ago, our first parents turned their back on our creator. Mankind has been witness to the worsening results of sin ever since. Our world is crumbling around us. There are terrible people in the midst of the tribulation who see the failures of the nations mentioned above, where murder and chaos now prevail where people used to work and live life and have families, as being better. They view those failed nations as their success stories. They are trying to cause the same destruction in the nation you live in. Please listen to the Bible for the solution by God! It is your only hope.
All the peoples of the earth need to recognize and bow down to (by expressing faith in) the Kingdom of Christ Jesus. Please understand: You can't really do good without expressing your Bible based faith in that kingdom. Help everyone to know: That kingdom is in the process of solving the problem of ISIS, and all other problems afflicting mankind! Do your part to direct all people to the teachings of Christ Jesus contained in the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That is the real and lasting good that you can do!
As we witness the unfolding of the tribulation of the last days Jesus spoke about, (Mat 24:9-14 & 21-22 & Rev 7:13-17) the wicked will continue to kill and do harm. Fortunately, in many cases, they will be killing each other. In the midst of the turmoil, Christ Jesus is sorting through all the people to mark and or protect those who have a complete heart toward his Father. (Eze 9:2-6) Soon, at Armageddon, Christ and the spirit creatures who support his kingdom will destroy all the remaining wicked. In doing so Christ will usher in paradise. (Isa 11:1-12) All righteously inclined individuals who have died at the hand of the wicked will be resurrected. Many among mankind will be, and hopefully are being, preserved alive during the tribulation, and during the battle of Armageddon which will bring an end to that turmoil. (John 11:26) By this process, God is extending every opportunity to all the inhabitants of the earth: the opportunity to express faith in his son so as to repent and turn their lives around. That is the simple truth everyone needs to know. Well, everyone who will listen at any rate. You are either helping spread that message, or you remain part of the problem. It is just that simple. The teachings of Jesus Christ are a mirror we can look into and see what we personally are, so as to make corrections. (Jas 1:22:25) Build faith for the preservation of your life by learning what he taught, and then by expressing faith in Jesus Christ.
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