Due to a mis-translation…

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Allah: Formerly known as the PAGAN moon-god, SIN

A brief overview with Rev. Mark W. Chidester Ph.D.;
With special thanks to the many that contributed!

Note: I was uncertain which category to place this blog under, as it deals with Islam as a religious entity, but also pagan.  Allah is a name, but also a title — a meaning more-so than a proper name.  Then I wondered if I should place this blog under my political blog due to the political nature of Islam.  After a little thinking, and refining, I determined that this blog is best placed under religions, and should be here.  Please also note that whereas many blogs I’ve done are in paragraph form, this one is largely in bullet-form.  This is due to the large number of single references that I made, and to aid in the ease of understanding the points, as all that know me understand that I can ramble at times.  Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you find the time both informative and enjoyable; God bless!

It should not come as a surprise that the word “Allah” was not something invented by Muhammad or revealed for the first time in the Quran.  It was not some mysterious name that mankind had never heard before.  In fact, it was a name that had permeated multiple cultures from different origins, and was a wide-known name by the time Muhammad rose up claiming that Gabriel had spoken to him.

The well-known Middle East scholar H.A.R. Gibb has pointed out that the reason that Muhammad never had to explain who Allah was in the Quran is that his listeners had already heard about Allah long before Muhammad was ever born (Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey, New York: Mentor Books, 1955, p.38).

Historical evidences, impartial logic, well versed references and all available circumstantial judgments can very well prove that:

1. 1.       Allah name of deity was pre-existed much before the arrival of Islam,
2. Pre-Islamic Pagan peoples worshipped Allah as their supreme deity (moon-god).

Allah’s name existed in pre-Islamic Arab. In ancient Arab the Allah was considered to be the supreme God/deity (as Moon-God) and Arab Pagans worshipped Allah before Islam arrived.

Let’s begin by examining some pertinent questions and answers:

• Did the Pagan Arabs in pre-Islamic times worship 360 gods? Yes
• Did the pagans Arabs worship the sun, moon and the stars? Yes
• Did the Arabs built temples to the Moon-god? Yes
• Did different Arab tribes give the Moon-god different names/titles? Yes
• What were some of the names/titles? Sin, Hubul, Ilumquh, Al-ilah.
• Was the title “al-ilah” (the god) used as the Moon-god? Yes
• Was the word “Allah” derived from “al-ilah?” Yes
• Was the pagan “Allah” a high god in a pantheon of deities? Yes.
• Was he worshipped at the Kabah? Yes.
• Was Allah only one of many Meccan gods? Yes
• Did they place a statue of Hubul on top of the Kabah? Yes.
• At that time was Hubul considered the Moon-god? Yes.
• Was the Kabah thus the “house of the Moon-god”? Yes.
• Did the name “Allah” eventually replace that of Hubul as the name of the Moon god? Yes.
• Did they call the Kabah the “house of Allah”?  Yes.
• Were al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat called “the daughters of Allah”? Yes.
• Yusuf Ali explains in fn. 5096, pg. 1445, that Lat, Uzza and Manat were known as “the daughters of God [Allah]”
• Did the Qur’an at one point tell Muslims to worship al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat? Yes. In Surah 53:19-20.
• Have those verses been “abrogated” out of the present Qur’an? Yes.
• What were they called? “The Satanic Verses.”

The variable names (Sin, Hubul, llumquh, Al-ilah) of moon god were used by various tribes of pagan Arabs. Pagan god SIN was the name of Moon-god, who was the Al-ilah of the gods, and thus the “Allah” above all gods.

Dr. Arthur Jeffery, one of the foremost Western Islamic scholars in modern times and professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Columbia University, notes:

• “The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa” (Islam: Muhammad, and His Religion, New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958, p. 85).
• The word “Allah” comes from the compound Arabic word, al-ilah. Al is the definite article “the” and ilah is an Arabic word for “god.” It is not a foreign word. It is not even the Syriac word for God. It is pure Arabic. (There is an interesting discussion of the origins of Allah, in “Arabic Lexicographical Miscellanies” by J. Blau in the Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XVII, #2, 1972, pp. 173-190).
• Neither is Allah a Hebrew or Greek word for God as found in the Bible. Allah is a purely Arabic term used in reference to an Arabian deity. Hastings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics I:326, T & T Clark, states:
• ‘”Allah” is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs’] peculiar God. ‘

According to the Encyclopedia of Religion:

• ‘”Allah” is a pre-Islamic name . . . corresponding to the Babylonian Bel’ (Encyclopedia of Religion, I:117 Washington DC, Corpus Pub., 1979).

For those who find it hard to believe that Allah was a pagan name for a peculiar pagan Arabian deity in pre-Islamic times, the following quotations may be helpful:

• “Allah is found . . . in Arabic inscriptions prior to Islam” (Encyclopedia Britannica, I:643).
• “The Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah” (Encyclopedia off Islam, I:302, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1913, Houtsma).
• “Allah was known to the pre-Islamic . . . Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities” (Encyclopedia off Islam, I:406, ed. Gibb).
• “Ilah . . . appears in pre-Islamic poetry . . . By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to Allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry” (Encyclopedia off Islam, III:1093, 1971).
• “The name Allah goes back before Muhammad” (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:41, Anthony Mercatante, New York, The Facts on File, 1983).
• “The origin of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I:326, Hastings).
• To the testimony of the above standard reference works, we add those of such scholars as Henry Preserved Smith of Harvard University who has stated:
• “Allah was already known by name to the Arabs” (The Bible and Islam: or, The Influence of the Old and New Testament on the Religion of Mohammed, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897, p. 102).
• Dr. Kenneth Cragg, former editor of the prestigious scholarly journal Muslim World and an outstanding modern Western Islamic scholar, whose works are generally published by Oxford University, comments:
• “The name Allah is also evident in archeological and literary remains of pre-Islamic Arabia” (The Call of the Minaret, New York: Oxford University Press, 1956, p. 31).

Dr. W. Montgomery Watt, who was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Edinburgh University and Visiting Professor of Islamic studies at College de France, Georgetown University, and the University of Toronto, has done extensive work on the pre-Islamic concept of Allah. He concludes:

• “In recent years I have become increasingly convinced that for an adequate understanding of the career of Muhammad and the origins of Islam great importance must be attached to the existence in Mecca of belief in Allah as a “high god.” In a sense this is a form of paganism, but it is so different from paganism as commonly understood that it deserves separate treatment” (William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad’s Mecca, p. vii. Also see his article, “Belief in a High God in Pre-Islamic Mecca”, Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 16, 1971, pp. 35-40).

Caesar Farah in his book on Islam concludes his discussion of the pre-Islamic meaning of Allah by saying:

• “There is no reason, therefore, to accept the idea that Allah passed to the Muslims from the Christians and Jews” (Islam: Beliefs and Observations, New York, Barrons, 1987, p. 28).

According to Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, whose translation of the Quran is still used today, in pre-Islamic times Allah-worship, as well as the worship of Ba-al, were both astral religions in that they involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars (A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, Osnabruck: Otto Zeller Verlag, 1973, p. 36).

But all this being known; who is Allah?  Can we take a closer look into who/what Allah is?  The answer is astonishing to some: Yes, we can.

Who is Allah, then?

• According to Islamic Theologians (Mullahs, Maulana, Moulavis, etc.), or Islamic teachings– Allah is the supreme God or creator who (suddenly one day?) talked or introduced Himself with Prophet Muhammad through an Angel named Gabriel, disclosing the truth that it is the Allah who created everything in the universe. Surprisingly, Qur’an never defines the word “Allah” as to who actually Allah was or what was the relation of Allah with pagans.  It is likely, 99% percent of Muslims do believe that—Allah’s name was invented or started right from the time when Gabriel disclosed the truth (?) to Prophet Muhammad in the cave of Hira Parvat (Mountain) and gave Muhammad the Quran. They believe that before this truth was revealed—pagan Arabs were in the total darkness (Andhakar Zuug) and they used to worship various puppet goddess and that the pagans were very evil people.  It is also likely that no mullahs ever told us the real truth, neither do they believe this clean truth that “Allah” was in fact a pre-existing deity in pagan Arabia. — What hypocrisy?
• Allah, the god Sin, quite literally was “The controller of the night” – the Al-ilah of the pagans.  We’ll come back to this again shortly.

Some important factors which will suggest that the name“Allah” was already in use by Pagans as their chief God/deity:

• In pre-Islamic days, that Muslims call the Days of ignorance, the religious background of the Arabs was pagan, and basically animistic.  Through Moon, Sun, Stars, Planets, Animals, wells, trees, stones, caves, springs, and other natural objects man could make contact with the deity. At Mekka, “Allah” was the chief of the gods and the special deity of the Quraish, the prophet’s tribe. Allah had three daughters: Al Uzzah (Venus) most revered of all and pleased with human sacrifice; Manah, the goddess of destiny, and Al Lat, the goddess of vegetable life.  These three daughters of Allah (there is a Quranic verse about them) were considered very powerful over all things. Therefore, their intercessions on behalf of their worshippers were of great significance.
• Arabs used to give their children names such as—Abdullah (slave of Allah). Clean proof was the fact that, Muhammad’s father’s name was “Abdullah”. Logical analogy here is—had there been no “Allah” in pre-Islamic Arab, there could be no Abdullah or slave of Allah in Arabia.
• Even today, in the entire Arab World, not only Muslims but all other non-Muslim    (Jews, Christians, Sabians, Bahai, an atheist etc.) Arabs says—“Ya Allah” as the expression of surprise or unhappiness/sorrow.
• Albert Hourani’s statement: “The Islamic name used for God was “Allah”, which was already in use for one of the local Gods (it now used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians as the name of God (A history Of Arab people by Albert Hourani, 1991, page-16, Belknap press of Harvard University, USA)

History tells us two theories of Allah’s existence in and around the Kaba Sharif:

• (1) Pagans used to call the largest Statue amongst the 360 deities as ALLAH—whom they used to consider the chief/supreme deity (god).
• Or, (2) Pagan Arabs used to worship 360 deities inside Kaba Sharif, and they used to consider them different smaller deities under the total control of a single most powerful chief deity called “ALLAH” who was invisible (Nirakar) and was the all-powerful, all-knowing, and totally unknowable.

So, Allah was around BEFORE Islam?  Where?

Astral Religions:

• In Arabia, the sun god was viewed as a female goddess and the moon as the male god. As has been pointed out by many scholars such as Alfred Guilluame, the moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah! (Islam, p. 7).
• The name Allah was used as the personal name of the moon god, in addition to other titles that could be given to him.
• Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called “the daughters of Allah.” These three goddesses were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.
• The daughters of Allah, along with Allah and the sun goddess were viewed as “high” gods. That is, they were viewed as being at the top of the pantheon of Arabian deities.
• “Along with Allah, however, they worshipped a host of lesser gods and “daughters of Al-lah” (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:61)”.
• Al-ilah was shortened to Allah over time.  (This is what is needed to complete the thought begun earlier: Al-ilah is Allah.)

The Crescent Moon Symbol:

• The symbol of the worship of the moon god in Arabian culture and elsewhere throughout the Middle East was the crescent moon.
• Archaeologists have dug up numerous statues and hieroglyphic inscriptions in which a crescent moon was seated on top of the head of the deity to symbolize the worship of the moon god. In the same fashion as the sun is pictured above the Egyptian deity.
• While the moon was generally worshiped as a female deity in the Ancient Near East, the Arabs viewed it as a male deity.

The Gods of the Quraysh:

• The Quraysh tribe into which Muhammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah, the moon god, and especially to Allah’s three daughters who were viewed as intercessors between the people and Allah.
• The worship of the three goddesses, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, played a significant role in the worship at the Kabah in Mecca. The first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah.
• The literal Arabic name of Muhammad’s father was Abd-Allah. His uncle’s name was Obied-Allah. These names reveal the personal devotion that Muhammad’s pagan family had to the worship of Allah, the moon god.

Praying Toward Mecca:

• An Allah idol was set up at the Kebah along with all the other idols. The pagans prayed toward Mecca and the Kabah because that is where their gods were stationed.
• It only made sense to them to face in the direction of their god and then pray. Since the idol of their moon god, Allah, was at Mecca, they prayed toward Mecca.
• The worship of the moon god extended far beyond the Allah-worship in Arabia. The entire fertile crescent was involved in the worship of the moon.
• This, in part, explains the early success of Islam among Arab groups that traditionally had worshiped the moon god.
• The use of the crescent moon as the symbol for Islam which is placed on the flags of Islamic nations and on the top of mosques and minarets is a throwback to the days when Allah was worshiped as the moon god in Mecca.
• While this may come as a surprise to many Christians who have wrongly assumed that Allah was simply another name for the God of the Bible, educated Muslims generally understand this point.

Hindu Similarities:

• In India’s Hindu religion is quite similar to the number two theory (above) of pagan belief. Although, Hindus worship many different Goddesses—they invariably have faith upon a single supreme invisible deity called “Bhagaban” (some call it “Ischhaar”) whom they call “Nirakar”. And, surprisingly there is no sculptural image/figure for this Bhagaban. But all Hindus worship Him along with other numerous deities. This Bhagaban is considered as the lord of all other deities.  What would happen—if some intelligent prophet would have asked Hindus to give up worshipping other goddesses and keeping only Bhagaban as their only deity making it a monotheist religion just like Islam? Could it not be another religion like Islam?

Now some factors which will suggest “Allah” was the Moon-god of Arab pagans:

• In Qura’n there are at least a dozen verses in which Allah repeatedly swears by the names such as moon, sun, stars, planets, night, wind etc. It is a mystery why the creator Allah (?) should swear by his creations.  Normally, we swear by the name of something much superior to us, such as we swear by God or by the name of our father (who is considered senior or superior to us). But we never swear by the name of something inferior to us. Here in the Quran swearing fashions of Allah (God) by moon or stars hinting us that Allah considered these things superior to himself. And this makes us to think (otherwise) as to who actually acted as Allah in Quran? However, in his explanation of why the Qur’an swears by the moon in Surah 74:32, “Nay, verily by the Moon,” Yusuf Alli comments, “The moon was worshipped as adeity in times of darkness”(fn. 5798, pg. 1644). Perhaps, this swearing of Allah was due to the usual/cultural habits of worshipping moon as their God in pagan customs.
• Yousuf Ali stated (Page-1921-1623 of his English Translation of Holy Quran):
  • “Moon-worship was equally popular in various forms………Apollo and Diana—the twin brother and sister, representing the sun and moon. …in the Vedic religion of India the moon god was Soma, the lord of the planets…….moon was male divinity in ancient India. Moon was also male divinity in ancient Semitic religion, and the Arabic word for the moon “qamar’ is of the masculine gender, on the other hand, the Arabic word for sun “shams” is feminine gender. The pagan Arabs evidently looked upon the sun as a goddess and the moon as a God.
  • The Pagan deities best known in the Ka’ba and round about Mecca were Lat, Uzza, and Manat.…the 360 idols established by the Pagans in the Ka’ba probably represented the 360 days of an inaccurate solar year. This was the actual modern pagan worship as known to the Quraish contemporary with our prophet”
  • Influence of Moon in Islam:
    • Who can deny the paramount influences of moon in Muslim’s life? In Islam, moon is considered holiest astronomical object, and moon is the guiding light of all Islamic rituals/festivals. Contradictions and conflicts are very common with the dates of Eids and Ramadan and obviously it is a chronic problem and moon is the nucleus of this problem. Crescent moon and stars are the symbolic sign in the national flags of many Muslim countries, and it is present over the Mosques, in the Muslim graveyard etc.
    • Prophet Muhammad compromised to Pagans to establish Islam in Arabia:
      • Prophet Muhammad did his clever tactics of adapting many rites of paganism into Islam, in order to accommodate Islam among the pagan Arabs. He made lots of political pacts with the Pagan Leaders such as Abu Suffian to accommodate his new idea of religion and he agreed to incorporate many of the Pagan rituals in Islam. Prophet Muhammad asked the pagans to worship only the “Allah” the largest God,
      • And destroy the idols of all other gods and goddesses that existed in Kabah. To establish oneness (monotheist) of God, he repeatedly asked them not to make any partners to Allah (That is why we can find hundreds of Quranic verses “asking not to make any partners to Allah). Finally, the Prophet was able to convince (by force of course) the pagans to destroy all idols, and on return (he) agreed (perhaps) to keep the “Names” of the goddess of most famous Pagan tribes as the alternative names of Allah—hence Islam has 99 NAMES of Allah.
      • Prophet Muhammad did command his followers to participate in these pagan ceremonies while the pagans were still in control of Mecca. (Please See Yusuf Ali, fn. 214, pg. 78). … “the whole of the [pagan] pilgrimage was spiritualized in Islam…” (Yusuf Ali: fn. 223 pg. 80).  In the Tafsir (of Quran-2:200) maoulana Yousuf Ali stated:  “After Pilgrimage, in Pagan times, the pilgrims used to gather in assemblies in which the praises of ancestors were sung. As the whole of the pilgrimage rites were spiritualized in Islam, so this aftermath of the Pilgrimage was also spiritualized. It was recommended for pilgrims to stay on two or three days after the pilgrimage, but they must use them in prayer and praise to God.(#223 of Shane’nazul by Maoulana Yousuf Ali, page-81)

Wait, so Islam is a Pagan religion?

• In Islam many rituals performed (today) by devoted Muslims in the name of Allah are connected to the pagan worship that existed before Islam. Pagans practices of the Pilgrimage of Kabah once a year–the Fast of Ramadan, running around the Kabah seven times, kissing the black stone, shaving the head, animal sacrifices, running up and down two hills, throwing stones at the devil, snorting water in and out the nose, praying several times a day toward Mecca, giving alms, Friday prayers, etc. are strictly followed by Muslims today. Nobody can deny the fact that, all the above rituals of Muslim’s hajj today—existed well before the arrival of Islam.
• It is highly plausible to consider the fact that by incorporating much of the Pagan’s rituals in new religion Islam—Prophet successfully reduced the pagan-risk and it was perhaps one of the most important milestone-attempts to conquer the minds of Pagans resulting in massive breakdown of the Pagans’ moral and support to oppose Islam. \
• he central shrine at Mekka was the Pagan’s Kaaba (called House of Allah), a cube like stone structure which still stands though many times rebuilt. Imbedded in one corner is the black stone, probably a meteorite, the kissing of which is now an essential part of the Muslim’s pilgrimage.
• It is the historical fact that the Ka’aba, the sacred shrine which contains the Black Stone, in Mecca was used for pagan idol worship before Islam and even called the House of Allah at that time. The name of the God whom the Arabs worshipped was the god of pantheon—Ali-ilah the god, the supreme, the predeterminer of everybody’s life or destiny—the chief God “Allah”
• Pagans who lived in Saudi Arabia before Muhammad was born worshiped toward Mecca because Mecca is where their idols were located. Because this pagan worship centered on Mecca was so widespread, a rapid acceptance of Muhammad’s new religion was possible. Thus, Islam is a previously heathen religion modified into a monotheistic form by discarding all the other pagan gods except for Al-Ilah. Al-Ilah simply became Al-lah over time.
• Islam still worships a black stone idol as well as Al-Ilah the sin god. Al-Ilah was the pagan Lord of the Ka’aba when Muhammad made up Islam, he just dropped the “i” and name has been simplified to Allah. The Ka’aba black cube in Mecca houses the occult black rock of Allah. It is of course still the center of pagan Islamic worship today. The requirement for a Holy Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, in order to circle the Ka’aba. The site of the black stone idol is to be circled 7 times and kissed. Pilgrims then run to the Wadi Mina to throw stones at the “devil”. Islam incorporates beliefs in jinns which are demons genies, fairies. They believe in spells, magic stones, fetishes, and animistic beliefs (spirits living in inanimate objects). See: Suras 55; 72; 113, 114. These pagan rites are practiced in Islam today.

Who did not read the story of BLACK STONE which was very sacred (povitra) to all various tribes of Quraish. When one day this sacred stone was needed to transfer from one place to another, there was a quarrel amongst the various tribes, as to who will carry that sacred stone? Then most intelligent and righteous young boy Muhammad (was not a prophet then) invented the solution of this serious problem. He (Muhammad) put this sacred stone over a Chaddor (piece of cloth) and asked one representative from each tribe to hold the Chaddor and carry the stone.   This story was briefly narrated just to prove that the “black stone” did exist long before Islam was invented.

• In partial summary, it has been truthfully and logically proven with all possible available circumstantial evidences/rational that, Islam was not a new religion but it is a reformed paganism.   Some believe that all these monotheistic religions have more or less similar origins. This idea of monotheistic religion was not a brand new invention. Monotheistic thought was declared by Ancient Pharaoh Kings, Mesopotamia’s king Hamarubi (3000 B.C.), and Alexander the Great (300 B.C.). Differences were, these kings demanded that they themselves were the God whom everybody should worship.

So then, what is Islam – is this saying it’s NOT a religion?

• In the field of comparative religions, it is understood that each of the major religions of mankind has its own peculiar concept of deity. In other words, all religions do not worship the same God, only under different names.
• The sloppy thinking that would ignore the essential differences which divide world religions is an insult the uniqueness of world religions.
• Which of the world religions holds to the Christian concept of one eternal God in three persons? When the Hindu denies the personality of God, which religions do not agree with this? Obviously, all men do not worship the same God, or goddesses.
• The Quran’s concept of deity evolved out of the pre-Islamic pagan religion of Allah-worship. It is so uniquely Arab that it cannot be simply reduced to Jewish or Christian beliefs.

Islam, by even the definition of comparative religion is not a religion.  Islam holds no UNIQUE god, rather, it has cobbled together its structure and belief system from numerous religions, as shown thus far.

So let’s take a slightly closer look at the “prophet” of Islam, Muhammad:

Marriage, Divorce, Adultery and Polygamy:

• In his personal life, Muhammad had two great weaknesses. The first was greed. By looting caravans and Jewish settlements he had amassed fabulous wealth for himself, his family, and his tribe (Ali Dashti, 23 Years, p. 86-87; Encyclopedia Britannica, 15:648).
• When we turn and look at the life of Muhammad we find that he clearly killed and robbed people in the name of Allah according to the Quran. He taught his disciples by example, command, and precept that they could and should kill and rob in Allah’s name and force people to submit to Islam.
• His next greatest weakness was women. Although in the Quran he would limit his followers to having four wives, he himself took more than four wives and concubines.
• The question of the number of women with whom Muhammad was sexually involved either as wives, concubines or devotees was made a point of contention by the Jews in Muhammad’s day. Ali Dashti comments:
• “All the commentaries agree that verse 57 of Sura 4 (on-Nesa) was sent down after the Jews criticized Mohammad’s appetite for women, alleging that he had nothing to do except to take wives” (Ali Dashti, 23 Years, pp. 120-138).
• Since polygamy was practiced in the Old Testament by such patriarchs as Abraham, the mere fact that Muhammad had more than one wife is not sufficient in and of itself to discount his claim to prophethood. But this does negate the fact that the issue has historical in terms of trying to understand Muhammad as a man.
• It also poses a logical problem for Muslims. Because the Quran in Sura 4:3 forbids the taking of more than four wives, to have taken any more would have been sinful for Muhammad.
• One Muslin apologist argued as follows:
• “Muhammad was sinless. The Quran makes taking more than four wives a sin. Therefore Muhammad could not have taken more than four wives. Why? Because Muhammad was sinless.”
• Which begs the question of how many wives Muhammad or anyone else had should be answered on the basis of the historical and literary evidence and not blind faith.
• Muslim scholar and statesman Ali Dashti gives the following list of the women in Muhammad’s life:

1. Khadija	12. Hend
2. Sawda	13. Asma (of Saba)
3. Aesha	14. Zaynab (of Khozayma)
4. Omm Salama	15. Habla
5. Halsa	16. Asma (of Noman)
6. Zaynab (of Jahsh)	17. Mary (the Christian)
7. Jowayriyi	18. Rayhana
8. Omm Habiba	19. Omm Sharik
9. Safiya	20. Maymuna
10. Maymuna (of Hareth)	21. Zaynab (a third one)
11. Fatema	22. Khawla

• Several observations need to be given about the above list:
  • The first 16 women were wives. Numbers 17 and 18 were slaves or concubines.
  • The last four women were neither wives or slaves but devout Muslim women who “gave” themselves to satisfy Muhammad’s sexual desires.
  • Zaynab of Jahsh was originally Muhammad’s adopted son Zaid’s wife. The fact that Muhammad took her for himself has been problematic to many people, Muslims included. (God does not break His Own Word and He never changes His mind. Now read Sura 33:36-38).
  • (The vindicated prophet Moses taught under the Old Testament, that a minister could only marry a virgin or the widow of a minister (Leviticus 21:13-15). The vindicated prophet Jesus taught under the New Testament that an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher can marry only a virgin in the faith — because he is a type of Christ Who is uniting only with virgins to the Word.
  • Every prophet from Adam taught that any woman who has more than one living husband is an adulteress, and her subsequent husband is in adultery with her first husband as polygamy was legal only for the man — Genesis 3:16; Romans 7:1-3).
  • Aesha was only eight or nine years old when Muhammad took her to his bed. According to Hadith, she was still playing with her dolls. This facet of Muhammad’s sexual appetite is particularly distressing to Westerners.
  • While in Islamic countries an eight-or-nine-year-old girl can be given in marriage to an adult male, in the West, most people would shudder to think of an eight-or-nine-year-old girl being given in marriage to anyone. (Although it is condoned by the Jew’s Talmud).
  • This aspect of Muhammad’s personal life is something that many scholars pass over once again because they do not want to hurt the feelings of Muslims. Yet, history cannot be rewritten to avoid confronting the facts that Muhammad had unnatural desires for little girls.
  • Finally, Mary, the Coptic Christian, refused to marry Muhammad because she would not renounce Christianity and embrace Islam. She bravely chose to remain a slave rather than convert.
  • The documentation for all the women in Muhammad’s harem is so vast and has been presented so many times by able scholars that only those who use circular reasoning can object to it.

Sinless or Sinful?

The next issue that I would like to remind those who claim that to speak ill of Muhammad is to “blaspheme their prophet” while it’s perfectly acceptable for them to reduce my Son of God to a mere mortal, is according to your “Holy text” – where does it state that Muhammad was sinless?  The Holy Bible states it clearly that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life.

Jesus Christ:

• According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ lived a perfect and sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• When His enemies came to accuse Jesus before Pilate and Herod, they had to invent charges because no one could find anything against Him.

But when we turn to the life of Muhammad, we find that he was a normal human being engaged in the same sins which afflict all of us. He lied; he cheated; he lusted; he failed to keep his word, etc. He was neither perfect nor sinless.  Those that would try to disagree, please answer me this: “Where in the Quran is it ever stated that Muhammad was sinless?”

Muhammad:

• To my knowledge there is not a single passage in which such an idea is even suggested, much less taught.
• Likely, then there will be a demand to show from the Quran where Muhammad was said to be a sinner.   This is easy for anyone that’s actually opened and read the Quran – something that Muslims never expect their opposition to dare to do.  Yet, if you have, you can answer their challenge by citing several passages from the Quran which clearly reveal to any honest reader that Muhammad was a sinner:
  • In Sura 18:110, and elsewhere, Muhammad is commanded by Allah:
    • “Say, I am but a man like yourselves.”
    • Nowhere in the Quran is Muhammad said to be sinless. Instead, Allah tells Muhammad that he is no different than any other man.
    • Those Muslims who claim that Muhammad was sinless have failed to note Sura 40:55, where Allah told Muhammad to repent of his sins!
    • Muhammad Pickthal translates Sura 40:55 as saying:
      • “Ask forgiveness of thy sin”.
      • The only way out of this passage is to state that Allah was wrong to ask Muhammad to ask for forgiveness because he had nothing to forgive!
      • Pickthal’s translation of Sura 48:1, 2 states:
        • “Lo! We have given thee,
          (O Muhammad), signal victory,
          that Allah may forgive thee
          of past and that which is to
          come, and may perfect His
          favor unto thee, and guide
          thee on a right path”
        • Not only was Muhammad commanded to repent of his sins and to seek forgiveness, but he was also reminded off his past sins that Allah had already forgiven and of future sins which would need future forgiveness!
        • Muhammad was not sinless according to the Quran. He was just one more poor sinner in need of forgiveness and redemption.

Then there’s the claims that the Bible was written over centuries, and that the Bible has been changed by councils and other man-influenced and directed goals and reasoning.  This is true, and this is why there are splinter denominations of Christianity today.  However, Islam has gone through the same, if not more, revision at the hands of “mere men”…

Many Variant Readings of the Quran:

• Muslims attack the Bible on the grounds that it sometimes has conflicting wording from different manuscripts. Yet this is exactly the case with the text of the Quran. There are many conflicting readings on the text of the Quran as Arthur Jeffery has demonstrated in his book, Material for the History of the Text of the Quran (New York, Russell F. Moore, 1952).
• At one point Jeffery gives 90 pages of variant readings on the text. For example, in Sura 2 there are over 140 conflicting and variant readings on the text of the Quran.
• All Western and Muslim scholars admit the presence of variant readings in the text of the Quran (Dashti, 23 Years, p. 28; Mandudi, Meaning of the Quran, pp. 17-18; McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, V152).
• Guillaume points out that the Quran at first “had a large number of variants, not always trifling in significance” (Islam, p. 189).
• “It is interesting to note that in scholarly Muslim journals, there is beginning to be a grudging acknowledgment of the fact that there are variant and conflicting readings on the text of the Quran” (One example would be Saleh al-Wahaihu, “A Study of Seven Quranic Variants,” International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Vol. V (1989), #2, pp. 1-57).

Quran: Some Verses Missing!

• According to Professor Guillaume in his book, Islam, (pp. 191ff.), some of the original verses of the Quran were lost.
• For example, one Sura originally had 200 verses in the days of Ayesha. But by the time Uthman standardized the text of the Quran, it had only 73 verses! A total of 127 verses had been lost, and they have never been recovered.
• The Shiite Muslims claim that Uthman left out 25 percent of the original verses in the Quran for political reasons (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, V:152).
• That there are verses which got left out of Uthman’s version of the Quran is universally recognized (Shorter Encyclopedia off Islam, pp. 278-282; Guillaume, Islam, p. 191; Wherry, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, pp. 110-111).
• John Burton’s book, The Collection of the Quran, which was published by Cambridge University, documents how such verses were lost (London University Press, 1977, pp. 117ff. See also Arthur Jeffery, Islam: Muhammad and His Religion, New York; Liberal Arts Press, 1958, pp. 66-68).
• Burton states concerning the Muslim claim that the Quran is perfect:
• “The Muslim accounts of the history of the Quran texts are a mass of confusion, contradiction and inconsistencies” (Burton, Collection, p. 231).

Changes in the Quran:

• One interesting way that some off the original verses of the Quran were lost is that a follower of Muhammad named Abdollah Sarh would make suggestions to Muhammad about rephrasing, adding to, or subtracting from the Suras. Muhammad often did as Sarh suggested.
• Ali Dashti explains what happened:
• “Abdollah renounced Islam on the ground that the revelations, if from God, could not be changed at the prompting of a scribe such as he. After his apostasy he went to Mecca and joined the Qorayshites” (Dashti, 23 Years, p. 98).
• It is no wonder that when Muhammad conquered Mecca one of the first people he killed was Abdollah, for he knew too much and opened his mouth too often.

Now comes the part that Islam is truly different from Christianity – abrogation of verses, rather than clarification of verses.  In the Quran, verses are abrogated if they don’t match (which would indicate an imperfect deity as the writings needed to change that much in the life-span of the SINGLE author of the Quran, Muhammad, the prophet); In the Holy Bible, verses are clarified by further texts (sometimes written centuries later) as God is perfect and unchanging, and it is only man that is imperfect.

Some Verses Abrogated:

• In the abrogation process spoken of earlier, verses which are contradictory to Muslim faith and practice have been removed from the text, such as the “satanic verses” in which Muhammad approved of the worship of the three goddesses, the daughters of Allah.
• The Arabic scholar E. Wherry comments:
  • There being some passages in the Quran which are contradictory, the Muhammadan doctors obviate any objection from thence by the doctrine of abrogation; for they say that God in the Quran commanded several things which were for good reasons afterwards revoked and abrogated” (A Comprehensive Commentary on the Qurun, p. 110).
• Wherry goes on to document numerous examples of verses taken out of the Quran.
• Canon Sell in his work, Historical Development of the Quran, also comments on the practice of abrogating verses out of the Quran if they are troublesome:
• “It is to us astounding how so compromising a procedure can have been permitted to be introduced into the system by friends and foes (Madras: Diocesan Press, 1923, pp. 36-37).

Then there’s that pesky part to the Bible about nobody adding or taking away from the Bible (Revelation 22:19), as it’s God’s Word (John 1:1) – apparently, without that warning, Islam has no such concern as they continue to change and add the Quran, as their religious leaders and political leaders see fit, via actual changes, as well as additions to the rules via the Sharia Law “justice” system.

Some Verses Added:

• Not only have parts of the Quran been lost, but entire verses and chapters have been added to it.
• For example, Ubai had several Suras in his manuscript of the Quran which Uthman omitted from his standardized text.
• Thus there were Qurans in circulation before Uthman’s text which had additional revelations from Muhammad that Uthman did not find or approve of, and thus he failed to place them in his text.

Another place that Muslims challenge Christians (as well as some other religions) is that there is NO original text for their beliefs… yet, rather obviously, they are lacking the very thing they claim others to be lacking!  Meanwhile, more and more Biblical texts and validation continue to appear in such places as the Dead Sea Scrolls, archeological sites, and further studies of the races from around the world…

No Originals:

• As to the claim that the original manuscript of the Quran is still in existence, we have already pointed out there was no single “manuscript” of the Quran.
• Caesar Farah in his book on Islam, states:
  • “When Muhammad died there existed no singular codex of the sacred text” (Caesar Farah, Islam: Beliefs and Observations, New York; Barrons, 1987, p. 28).
• The Shorter Encyclopedia off Islam comments:
  • “One thing only is certain and is openly recognized by tradition, namely, that there was not in existence any collection of revelations in the final form, because, as long as he was alive, new revelations were being added to the earlier ones” (p. 271).

 So let’s recap:

Islam is a pagan religion, tied in with a series of other religions, written by a man, creating a hierarchy that can sustain a people as a governmental system, which makes it a pseudo-religion that has more standing as a political system than a religious entity even according to comparative religion?  Yes.

How about some more sources to prove that Islam has taken its surahs and text from other religions and sources?  OK.

• Arabian Sources:
  • The Quran repeats fanciful Arabian fables as if they were true.
  • “Arabic legends about the fabulous jinns fill its pages” (G.G. Pfander, Balance of Truth, pp. 283).
  • “The story of the she-camel who leapt out of a rock and became a prophet was known long before Muhammad” (Suras 7:73-77,85; 91:14; 54:29).
  • The story of an entire village of people who were turned into apes because they broke the sabbath by fishing was a popular legend in Muhammad’s day (Suras 2:65; 7:163-166).
  • The gushing 12 springs story found in Sura 2:60 comes from pre-Islamic legends.
  • In what is called the “Rip Van Winkle” story, seven men and their animals slept for 309 years in a cave and then woke up perfectly fine (Sura 18:9-26)!
  • This legend is found in Greek and Christian fables as well as Arabian lore.
  • The fable of the pieces of four dead, cut-up birds getting up and flying was well known in Muhammad’s time (Sura 2:260).
  • It is also clear that Muhammad used such pre-Islamic literature as the Saba Moallaqat of Imra’ul Cays in his composition of Suras 21:96; 29:31,46; 37:59; 54:1, and 93:1.
• Jewish Sources:
  • Many of the stories in the Quran come from the Jewish Talmud, the Midrash, and many apocryphal works.
  • This was pointed out by Abraham Geiger in 1833, and further documented by another Jewish scholar, Dr. Abraham Katsh, of New York University, in 1954 (The Concise Dictionary of Islam, p. 229; Jomier, The Bible and the Quran — Henry Regency Co., Chicago, 1959, 59ff; Sell, Studies, pp. 163ff.; Guillaume, Islam, p. 13).

1. The source of Sura 3:35-37 is the fanciful book called The Protevangelion’s James the Lesser.
2. The source of Sura 87:19 is the Testament of Abraham.
3. The source of Sura 27:17-44 is the Second Targum of Esther.
4. The fantastic tale that God made a man “die for a hundred years” with no ill effects on his food, drink, or donkey was a Jewish fable (Sura 2:259ff.).
5. The idea that Moses was resurrected and other material came from the Jewish Talmud (Sura 2:55, 56, 67).
6. The story in Sura 5:30,31 can also be found in pre-Islamic works from Pirke Rabbi Eleazer, the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziah and the Targum of Jerusalem.
7. The tale of Abraham being delivered from Nimrod’s fire came from the Midrash Rabbah (see Suras 21:51-71; 29:16, 17; 37:97,98).
8. It must be also pointed out that Nimrod and Abraham did not live at the same time. Muhammad was always mixing people together in the Quran who did not live at the same time.
9. The non-biblical details of the visit of the Queen of Sheba (Saba) in Sura 27:20-44 came from the Second Targum of the Book of Esther.
10. The source of Sura 2:102 is no doubt the Midrash Yalkut (chapter 44).
11. The story found in Sura 7:171 of God lifting up Mount Sinai and holding it over the heads of the Jews as a threat to squash them if they rejected the law came from the Jewish book Abodah Sarah.
12. The story of the making of the golden calf in the wilderness, in which the image jumped out of the fire fully formed and actually mooed (Suras 7:148; 20:88), came from Pirke Rabbi Eleazer.
13. 12, The seven heavens and hells described in the Quran came from the Zohar and the Hagigah.
14. Muhammad utilized the Testament of Abraham to teach that a scale or balance will be used on the day of judgment to weigh good and bad deeds in order to determine whether one goes to heaven or hell (Suras 42:17; 101:6-9).

• Heretical Christian Sources:
  • One of the most documented and damaging facts about the Quran is that Muhammad used heretical “Christian” Gnostic gospels and their fables for material in the Quran.
  • Encyclopedia Britannica comments:
    • “The gospel was known to him chiefly through apocryphal and heretical sources” (15:648).
    • This has been demonstrated many times by various scholars (Richard Bell, Introduction to the Quran, pp. 163ff. See also: Bell, The Origin of Islam in Its Christian Environment, pp. 110ff, 139ff; Sell, Studies, pp. 216ff. See also Tisdall and Pfander).
    • For example, in Suras 3:49 and 100:11O, the baby Jesus speaks from the cradle! Later on, the Quran has Jesus making clay birds come alive.
    • The Bible tells us that the first miracle Jesus did was at the wedding at Cana (John 2:11).
    • Sabean Sources:
      • Muhammad incorporated parts of the religion of the Sabeans into Islam (Encyclopedia off Islam (ed. Eliade), pp. 303ff.; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, pp. 1:219ff.).
      • He adopted such pagan rituals as:
      • Worshiping at Kabah
      • Praying five times a day towards Mecca (Muhammad chose five of the same times the Sabeans prayed).
      • Fasting for part of a day for an entire month.
      • Eastern Religious Sources:
        • Muhammad derived some of his ideas from Eastern religions such as Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. All of these things were in existence long before Muhammad was born.
        • The Quran records the following things which are ascribed to Muhammad but in reality were previously known stories now attributed to him for the first time (Sell,Studies, pp. 219ff.).
        • The story of a flying trip through seven heavens.
        • The Houries of paradise.
        • Azazil and other spirits coming up from Hades.
        • The “light” of Muhammad.
        • The bridge of Sirat.
        • Paradise with its wine, women, and song (from the Persians).
        • The king of death.
        • The peacock story.

Arab Racism:

• According to the literal Arabic translation of Sura 3:106, 107, on Judgment Day, only people with white faces will be saved. People with black faces will be damned. [This is a carnal understanding of a common expression. The Arabic term “ibyaddat wujuhahum” literally meaning “their faces turned white” is used as well as the term “iswaddat wujuhahum”literally meaning “their faces turned black”. These are common expressions used among all Arabs, including the Christians, with reference to good behavior and bad behavior, or good morals and bad morals].

A Carnal Heaven:

• The Quran promises a heaven full of wine and free sex (Suras 2:25; 4:57; 11:23; 47:15).
• If drunkenness and gross immorality is sinful on earth, how is it right in Paradise?
• The Quran’s picture of paradise is exactly what a seventh-century pagan Arab would have thought wonderful.
• The carnal concept of a harem of beautiful women and all the wine you can drink is in direct conflict with the spirituality and holiness of the Biblical concept of heaven (Revelation 22:12-17).

Conclusion:

• While the devout Muslim believes with all of his heart that the rituals and doctrines of Islam are entirely heavenly in origin and thus cannot have any earthly sources, Middle East scholars have demonstrated beyond all doubt that every ritual and belief in Islam can be traced back to pre-Islamic Arabian culture.
• In other words Muhammad did not preach anything new. Everything he taught had been believed and practiced in Arabia long before he was ever born. Even the idea of “only one God” was borrowed from the Jews and the Christians.

Thus in closing, Islam is a political-religious system that has stolen it’s beliefs from a multitude of other religions, pagans, and folk-lore and then force-fed that system to the people under the guise of government.  Then this same corrupt governmental system, under the guise of religion seeks to debase another government under the auspices that it’s a religious freedom to worship, while attempting to suffocate anyone that doesn’t believe as they do?

Islam is a lie.  Allah is al-ilah, the moon-god Sin of ancient pagan Arabs.  Muhammad was a troubled pedophile with fanciful tendencies and beliefs that he learned from his family, capitalized on them by sweeping all the religions that he observed in his immediate vicinity under ONE canopy, and claiming himself a prophet to teach and spread that religion that he desired in which he was blameless for his own actions, because they were “the will of Allah” – only to allow his own HUMAN nature to pervert the attempted congealing of all those religions and pagans into one unified group.  His later hatred in life, and human corrections being made to his “divine message” lead to many times the solution to abrogate his earlier peaceful verses with the later ones… essentially converting Islam from a religion of peace and harmony between the multitude of pagans and local religions to his people into a war machine to aid him in claiming revenge on those he believed crossed him, or presented a challenge to his claims of being a prophet…

This is the touted “Religion of Peace” – its REAL story; and now you know the truth about what Islam is, and how Allah became “the God” of Islam.  Now you know the truth of why Islam is so violent, and why they seek to absorb everyone into their world-wide caliphate, or face annihilation as a religion, or even as a people.

This is who the Allah of Islam is – a pagan moon-god that’s filled with hate, and presides over all things of the night.  Then people would wonder why so many would make the correlation of Allah being the Devil of Christianity, when they are the SAME being, as they preside over darkness, they are filled with hate, they want all creatures to worship only themselves, and they are imperfect, thus needing to have an “escape clause” built into anything they work up, while the bible has none.  Anyone using mere logic can easily see the correlations, and that they don’t end here, far from it…

So this is Islam’s Allah laid out and exposed for the fraud that he is via logic, history, religion, and even some politics.  Allah is a lie, Islam is a lie, and it’s all thanks to a pedophile-liar named Muhammad that we get to enjoy such a vile religion seeking to annihilate any that won’t convert to their barbaric pagan religions operating today under the veil of Islam.

References:

1. “The Holy Qur’an”, Translated by A. Yousuf Ali, Published by Amana Corporation, Brentwood, Maryland, 1983
2. The Holy Bible, KJV, NIV, and NJV (All in agreement)
3. Buchari Sharif, Bengali Translation by Maulana Muhammad Mustafizur Rahman, Sulemani Printers and Publishers, Dhaka, Second edition-1999
4. A History of the Arab peoples, by Albert Hourani, the Belknap press of Harvard University press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991
5. Dr. Robert Morey, 1996 Research and Education Foundation.
6. Gilchrist, The Temple, The Ka’aba, and the Christ (Benoni, South Africa, 1980), p. 16.
7. G. J. O. Moshay, Who Is This Allah?, (Dorchester House, Bucks, UK, 1994), pg. 138
8. Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim, (Prometheus, Amherst, 1995) p. 42.
9. Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. Lewis, Menage, Pellat, Schacht (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971, II:1093.)
10. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. Hastings), I:326.
11. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, Lorenz Books, New York 10011, Anness Publishing Limited 1999
12. Roots of the Western Tradition, (a short history of ancient world) by C.Warren Hollister, Library of congress cataloging-in-publication data, 6^th edition, 1
13. Youtube Video Islam Allah is SIN – Moon god (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2QT5pE6Qik)
14. Also contains excerpts from “The Islamic Invasion” by Dr. Robert Morey; Harvest Home Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-89081-983-1

Special thanks to the following people and groups for helping to gather this information:

• Syed Mirza — via a blog/email
• FaithFreedom.org – via blogs
• Dr. Robert Morey – via his book
• Biblebelievers.org.au – via blogs

(Without their efforts and contributions, this blog would have been much more arduous and taken a lot longer to accomplish!)

Are you a Christian, or a Social-Christian? You may be surprised… (Part 1: Prayer)

I know, I know… why would I ask something that could ruffle so many feathers?  It’s not to condemn anyone, it’s actually a question to make people think a little bit, and hopefully do some research to ensure that they’re actually living their faith, not just regurgitating what they hear.  Remember, we are called to be separate from the world, and it’s hard to do that if we allow the world to sway our faith!

The points that I’d like to examine are:

1. Prayer
2. Marriage
3. Spirituality
4. Churches
5. Spiritual Gifts
6. Raising Children
7. Testing Everything, Including Scriptures

By the time we get finished examining these seven points, briefly, I would hope that you will find that it is true, for most of us that call ourselves Christian, that we are not Christians, but rather Social-Christians — but that there is hope to get things right, and begin to be the salt and light for this world that we were called to be!

So let’s begin with our first point, Prayer:

Prayer has many stigmas that have been placed by denominational disagreements throughout Christianity, thus the best way to approach this topic, in my mind, is to look at a couple quotes, then some Scriptures themselves to ensure proper context and support.

Quotes:

“How often have we prayed something like, “O Lord, be with cousin Billy now in a special way”? Have we stopped to consider what it is we’re requesting? Imagine that you are a parent who is preparing to leave your children with a babysitter. Would you dream of saying, “O Betsy, I ask you now that you would be with my children in a special way?” No way. You would say, “Betsy, the kids need to be in bed by 9 pm. They can have one snack before their baths, and please make sure they finish their homework. You can reach us at this number if there’s any problem. Any questions before we go?” We are very specific with our requests and instructions for our babysitters. We want them to know specifics. It should be no different with prayer.” –David Jeremiah

“If God will do whatever He wishes, regardless of whether we pray or not, then we do not need to pray at all, and the Lord’s instructions on praying for the Kingdom and the Will are superfluous. But the truth is that God waits for a Remnant to rise up and to pray in agreement with His Purpose before He does anything – He will do nothing apart from the Church. Apart from HIM, we CAN do nothing; apart from US, He WILL do nothing” –Chip Brogden

First, we must look at the fact that denominational dogma and cultural trends have changed the prayer structure, as David Jeremiah noted, from being prayer of statement to a prayer of question.  We are therefore no longer praying to God, but asking Him — perhaps even begging Him — without justification in the way we were instructed to pray, thus outside of the Spirit in our own prayers.

Then notice that Chip Brogden made a rather poignant point: “Apart from HIM, we CAN do nothing; apart from US, He WILL do nothing.”  This is not because God doesn’t love us, it’s because God wants fellowship with man, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we are capable (with our free will) of following His rules to fellowship openly with him.

So basically, with these two quotes in context and paired together, we can determine that many times, prayer is not answered because it is not heard.  It’s much like picking up a telephone to call for help, with a perfectly good telephone — but the phone wire leads to the wall outlet, and it not plugged in; thus, no matter how passionately we beg or plead, nobody can hear us, because we didn’t follow instructions for setting up our phone system… and many don’t follow the instructions for setting up their prayer system to God.

Setting up a prayer system?  Yes, the Bible tells us that there is a proper, and an improper, way to pray.  Let’s next examine the Scriptures to see what His Word has to say on the matter:

Scriptures:

15. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16. Be joyful always;
17. pray continually;
18. give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
20. do not treat prophecies with contempt.
21. Test everything. Hold on to the good.
22. Avoid every kind of evil.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22, NIV

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.–Luke 18:1, NIV

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.–James 5:14, NIV

1. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2. He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3. Give us each day our daily bread.
4. Forgive us our sins,for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.And lead us not into temptation.’”
5. Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6. because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
7. “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldnesse he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks forf a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12. Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
— Luke 11:1-13

Viewing what we determined based on quotes and logic from before, let us now test that idea with the Scriptures just given as well.  Briefly, let’s restate the idea to test: “There is a proper way to pray, and if it is not set up right, it cannot/will not be heard.”

Let’s start with the first Scripture; It states quite plainly, “give thanks in all circumstances” — this includes the good and the bad!  Let’s look at an application wherein prayer could be messed up in this way:

My best friend just died in a car accident.  When I pray, which is right?  1. “Please watch over him and his family, have mercy on his soul, and bless those that are grieving for their loss!  Don’t let them fall from you because of the pain they feel, and please remind them somehow that all things work together for good to those that love You. ” or 2. “Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed is your name, and blessed are your ways.  Thank you, God, for allowing my friend to join you in absolute bliss!  Please help those that would grieve for their loss as the world sees it to recognize my friend’s gain in coming to be with you in Heaven.  May you use this earthly tragedy to further your perfect Will and spread your Spirit throughout his friends and family that they can be united once more when they are called home to see their loved one, and to spend eternity with you!”

Well according to the Scripture, the second is proper, the first is not — even though it might sound “right” to some.   “Be joyful, pray continually, give thanks…” All these are addressed in the second prayer save praying continually — which is something we should do.  This doesn’t mean always pray for your friend, but the prayer should be sent more than once, to show it’s a heart-felt and true prayer, not a prayer structured like those of the Pharisees that would promote self-righteousness or self-worth in any form.

Then, in Luke 18:1, we see, “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”  So are we giving up, or are we remembering to continue praying as we’ve been instructed?  One prayer is giving up; when something is desired, we must repeat the prayer earnestly, and ask God that it is fit to His Will for His glory, not our own.  Thus, should we only say a prayer for our friend one time at his funeral, we have broken both Scripture references on the instruction of setting up a prayer.

Then I included this one, which is slightly a different context, but the theme is the same: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”  Did you catch the theme that’s an undercurrent to all these verses?  “In the name of the Lord.”  You see, prayer should always acknowledge that His Will and His power are what sustains us.  This Scripture, while not particularly useful to our dead friend any longer, reminds us that we should live, and die, knowing that His Will and His Plan are far greater than ours are.  We must prayer always in His name.

Then you have one last Scripture that I reference, Luke 11:1-13.  In this, we are told to pray beginning, “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.”  We must address the prayer, the same as we must set up a phone system, ensuring that all the pieces are in place.  If any is missing, then the connection cannot be made.  Yet there is one further point to consider in this Scripture reference in verses 9-10…

9. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

So Jesus stated that if we pray properly, not only will we be heard, but that the Father’s love for us will ensure that our prayers are not only heard, but answered.  Note that this last Scripture supports our entire statement: “There is a proper way to pray, and if it is not set up right, it cannot/will not be heard.”  But then it also continues this to another point that we didn’t, and couldn’t, conclude: “But, if prayer is set up and done properly, then not only will it be heard, but it will also be ANSWERED.”

You must pray already knowing that God will fulfill your prayer, because you have learned and studied how to set up the prayer connection, and are praying in all things for them to be within the Will of God.  This being said, you should always pray WITH expectation, because to pray without is to beg or snivel, which is not asked for in any Scripture by God.

Funny how this isn’t what’s taught to most Christians about the proper way to pray, isn’t it?  They are taught to pray in a form that is either close to, or actually a form of begging and sniveling, which stands against how the Bible teaches us to pray.  The reason is that they are being taught to be good Social-Christians, not to offer true Christian prayers to God!

You see, a Social-Christian is more concerned about placating others than standing firm in the Word, and holding the Light up to illuminate the world that others might see the Truth and know that He is the only way.  A Social-Christian is more worried of how others view them, or how another believer might respect them, than the actual PERSONAL relationship they share with God.

Remember that one of the faults of the Pharisees was that they called to God in their prayers improperly.  Then consider that Jesus took time to show how prayer should be done.  With these two facts alone, it should be clear that Prayer is an important tool for Christians, and one that God gave plenty of attention to, so as to ensure that His children could easily communicate with Him, and that He would answer their prayers!

(End of Part/Point One: Prayer)

– Rev. Mark W. Chidester, Ph.D.

The Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4)

The Nephilim are a debated term in the Bible by many Biblical scholars.  This being stated, let’s take a look at the verse that introduces them to us.

New Jerusalem Bible:

When people began being numerous on earth, and daughters had been born to them, the sons of God, looking at the women, saw how beautiful they were and married as many of them as they chose.  Yaweh said, ‘My spirit cannot be indefinitely responsible for human beings, who are only flesh; let the time allowed each be a hundred and twenty years.  The Nephilim were on earth in those days (and even afterwards) when the sons of God resorted to the women, and had children by them.  These were the heroes of days gone by, men of renown.

New International Version:

When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.  Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”  The Nephilim were on earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.  They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

King James Version:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

With this being easily cross-referenced now, let us take a look at what we read in these four verses: First, there are men on earth; second, there are Nephilim/giants on earth; third, there is a mingling of the two that yielded an offspring that became great men.

So we all are in agreement that God created man.  Thus, the first point is easily agreed upon.  This leads us to point two, that there are Nephilim/giants on the earth.  This point is not so easily accepted by many, and this is indeed the first part of the controversy to many.

Well, rather than define Nephilim on my own understanding, let me refer to others (yielding to experts) in their definition of what the Nephilim are:

• http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Nephilim
• http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Nephilim/
• http://www.bible-history.com/faussets/N/Nephilim/
• http://dictionary.sensagent.com/nephilim/en-en/
• http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Nephilim.html
• http://www.babylon.com/definition/Nephilim/English
• http://www.dictionary30.com/meaning/Nephilim

Thus, it is clear that angels are the leading belief of what the Nephilim refer to in the original context, as they are the only logical explanation as to why Nephilim are mentioned both PRIOR and POST Noah-Flood, yet not mentioned in any form as being on the Ark, when God flooded the earth and wiped the slate clean for humans.

Still, there remain some that will not cede this point, and attempt to claim that “usage” accounts for the difference, although it is only a reference to two different peoples, such as claimed  here: http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/5303.htm

Based on the available information, I still believe completely that Nephilim are not humans, be they a specific type or group or not.  If they were to exist both prior and post-flood, then there would need to be a Nephilim ON the Ark, which is never mentioned.

So let us move to the second point of contention, the third overall point: There is a mingling of the two that yields an offspring, the men that became great and known.

Can angels have sexual relations?  Again, there is a massive split in beliefs here, as easily illustrated:

• YES! http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/how-can-angels-and-humans-have-children/
• Maybe? http://carm.org/can-angels-have-sex-with-people
• NO! http://www.christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t005.html

Thus, we are left with a conundrum.  Are we to believe the Bible’s original text, it’s translational version, or the concept that we simply cannot know because it is not truly stated as possible, or impossible, in plain terms?  This is where faith must come into play.

Based on the original text; based on the statements of how the Bible began (and the changes that have been thrust upon it through the ages), and based upon the concept that God created all things, and gave each a purpose — defining the difference of angels and men as those having “free will” (mankind) and those not (angels) —  we can come to a relatively safe conclusion, that these ‘Nephilim’ are indeed angels.  They could have chosen to become “fallen” to have children with the ‘daughters of men’ the same as other angels had chosen to follow Lucifer when he thought to rebel.

This doesn’t make some Christians happy for a simple reason: The Bible is no longer a black-and-white faith of good versus evil.  Now we would hold the Good (those serving God), the bad (those serving Lucifer), and the neutral-ish (those that have moved to live as man) — thus the dogma of so many denominations, and the heated debates when it comes to finding the truth in Scriptures.

Just imagine, angels that don’t absolutely have to do as they are told?  Angels that can live among men, as men?  Just think of the chaos that these implications would create!

I guess someone forgot to remind them of all those times that the Bible does speak of entertaining angels unaware, or angels walking and talking just as any other man before simply vanishing.  I guess that some people are too worried about the science and proving everything to remember that the Bible has given rules and guidelines that were millennia ahead of their time — and later proven correct through our science finally catching up with those truths.

This is why Christianity, the same as any other religion is a FAITH; you must believe that what is said is by a Higher Power, and live UP to the example set within the Scriptures.

In closing, I would like to remind everyone of three things in the Bible:

1. Test the Scriptures:1 Thessalonians 5:21 (Go to this verse::Verse pop-up)I Thessalonians 5:21 instructs us to “test[prove, KJV]allthings,” which would include our old notions, andthen“hold fast” to the good ones—the ones that pass thetest. A mistake many make is to follow tenaciously the instruction ofRevelation 3:11to “hold fast to what we have” while completely ignoring the additional instructions ofI Thessalonians 5:21totestfirst.Experience proves that not all that we believe istruth, even if held fast for forty years—a Sunday rather than a MondayPentecostis but one example. We have totestour beliefs continually and rigorously against the only standard that counts—the Bible (Acts 5:29).Human nature is lazy and takes the easy road at every opportunity. It will rely on human reasoning, the word of others, or tradition rather than do the hard work of studying the Bible and believing what it actually says. Human nature also will not naturally do the humbling work of allowing the Bible and its plain, unambiguous verses to prove matters rather than following humanly devised ideas. The church’s history over the last few decades displays the fruits of takingdoctrinefor granted rather than allowing clear scriptures to guide our understanding of the truth.Why do people have so many different opinions about what the Bible says? Generally, people come to the Bible with preconceived ideas and latch on to any scripture thatseemsto prove their belief. At the same time, they will ignore or make light of a clear verse that obviously contradicts their belief.

   God can use this as atestto determine the true intents of the heart. Where does one’s allegiance really lie? Will a person humbly submit to the clear instructions of God, allowing them to lead him or her to create a true spiritual foundation (Deuteronomy 8:2-3; Psalms 149:4)? Alternatively, will they choose instead to hold on to their preconceptions or other ideas of men—their idols (Revelation 21:8)—desperately grasping at the straws of unclear scriptures to build a shaky foundation?

   When doctrinal disputes arise, if a person cannot or will not prove beliefs using clear and unambiguous scriptures, that fact should raise a red flag. Clear scriptures are a solid-rock foundation. Ambiguous scriptures, open to private interpretation, lead to a foundation of sand. Only one of these foundations will stand when storms come (Matthew 7:24-27).

   Pat Higgins
   Praying Always (Part One)

   (http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/1478/Testing-Scriptures.htm)

2. God’s Word is Eternal: http://teamtruth.com/articles/out_systematictheologypart019.htm
3. Warnings:
   • http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp117.htm
   • http://www.letusreason.org/LDS28.htm
   • http://www.roseavenue.org/Who%20we%20are/what%20we%20believe/Bible/complete%20and%20perfect.htm
   • http://forums.swordsearcher.com/showthread.php?t=1060

Thus, in the end, it must be a matter of faith, in believing that what you hold in your hand, God’s Word, is eternal, unchanging, and perfect. It is a matter of faith in believing that what is in the Bible is true and proper, as God has said it is.

Those still wishing to find proof, I would simply say this in closing:

• Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t exist in world history, and then they did, and then they found evidence of the bible being right.
• The day the Earth stood still was questioned, but then looking to the stars, the way they moved, things hit a hiccup — until they accounted for a day that the world stood still, and then everything worked once more.
• The flood was questioned by many that claimed evolution, yet when put to the test, the great flood was able to be proven as fact, not fiction — thus, once again, supporting the Bible’s version of history as truth.

So, while others may choose to question the Bible, and it’s authority while they quibble over how they wish to interpret the Word… I will accept what i read (and test according to the Bible’s own explanation of how to ensure Scriptures are true) in the bible as truth, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

I pray you will as well, and may God bless you (all believers) as well!

– Rev. Mark W. Chidester, Ph.D.

Welcome to the Nephilim’s Tome!

Thanks to WordPress, I can now share this blog with the world as well — well, at least those that are willing to read my work.

I do hope that the mention in the blog’s title is not one that passes without turning at least a couple heads.  The Nephilim are the ANGELS that chose to come to earth in Genesis 6:4 where they married the women of earth and had offspring that became “Men of renown”…

There is debate in this passage, in it’s meaning, and in it’s sources.  This is a reason that I have chosen the Nephilim as the focal point for this blog’s title.  Then, I was reading Daniel, and he was given a Tome that was not to be opened until the end of time.  A Tome that held the answers… among other things.

We must remember that not all things are for us to know, and that some things, we must simply accept on faith.  I wanted this to be openly acknowledged before I began: Scripture is open to personal application (some of which must simply be accepted on faith), as it is a guidebook to the personal relationship we seek with our Creator.

This being stated, the purpose of this blog will be to review Scripture passages, to question (test) people’s faith in a friendly environment, and the ensure that people understand what the Holy Bible truly says in regard to faith, teachings, and daily applications of Scriptural principles to our lives.

I continue to be amazed with just how relevant this manual for life is to modern life when looking at how long ago it was penned; yet when recognizing it’s Divine inspiration, it does tend to make sense.  Sciences and life point to the Scriptures being true, just as is stated in the Bible.

So without any further commentary, I welcome you to follow me on my weekly endeavors into studying the Bible, and daily Bible verses to read, as well as updates on my own life in religious matters.

I hope you enjoy!

— Rev. Mark W. Chidester, Ph.D.