According to the SIN (standard Islamic narrative) we’re told that there’s only one Qur’ān revealed from Allah, given to Jibrel (Gabriel) and given to Muhammad. We have been told that the Qur’ān is the same all around the world. And that the words of the Qur’ān are the same not one word has been changed.
We’re going to look at Surah 66:12 sūrat l-taḥrīm (“The Prohibition”), let’s take a closer look at this ayat to see if the Hafs and Warsh Qur’ān are the same.
Hafs Qur’ān
And Mary daughter of Imran, who kept safe her private parts, so We breathed in it of Our Spirit, and she testified to the Words of her Lord, and HIS BOOKS; and she was one of the devout.
The word in the Hafs Qur’ān:wa kutubihi means “his books”, notice this is a plural word.
Warsh Qur’ān
And Mary daughter of Imran, who kept safe her private parts, so We breathed in it of Our Spirit, and she testified to the Words of her Lord, and HIS BOOK; and she was one of the devout.
The word in the Warsh Qur’ān: wa kitaabihi which means “His book”, notice this is a singular word.
Conclusion
If you take a close look at both the Hafs and Warsh Arabic shown above you’ll notice the underlined word has different diacritical marks changing the meaning of the word. The one found in Hafs is a plural word “books” while Warsh is singular “book”.
Therefore, does Allah have many revelations which he gave, or just one? This is extremely important, since if it is one book, then Mary only testifies to the Bible, and not the Quran. Perhaps our Muslim friends who can explain will come and answer this?
Continuing on with our series variant readings from different Arabic Qur’ān’s we’re going to look at the differences between the Hafs version compared with the Warsh recitation. Below is the English translation of the ayat.
The Hafs
How many of the prophets fought (قَاتَلَ) (in Allah’s way), and with them (fought) Large bands of godly men? but they never lost heart if they met with disaster in Allah’s way, nor did they weaken (in will) nor give in. And Allah Loves those who are firm and steadfast.
Here is the Arabic of Hafs focus on the bold word:
Note the Warsh version has the word (قٌَتِلَ) which changes the meaning of the ayat. This word found in Warsh has different diacritical marks than the one in Hafs. The variant in the Warsh reads:
And how many a prophet were killed (قٌَتِلَ) and with him fought many religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what afflicted them in the cause of Allah , nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah loves the steadfast.
Question
If one version says the prophets fought and the other says they were killed the significance of that statement between the two are vastly different. If someone fought in a war that doesn’t necessary mean they were killed. But if the statement is made that someone was killed then we realise that person is no longer alive.
Conclusion
Muslims claim there’s only 1 Qur’ān, translators will try to conceal certain words from the Arabic when translating into English. This is the deception of Islam, without lies Islam dies. These lies which Muslims using Dawah deceive many people into thinking there’s only 1 Qur’ān when in reality there are 37-40 different Arabic Qur’ān’s with different words.
An argument made against the Bible by Muslims is “there’s many Bible versions”, this argument is incorrect. There are many English translations of the Bible (KJV, ESV, NASB etc.), the same as there are many English translations of the Qur’ān (Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, Arberry etc.). Does this mean there are also many different Qur’ān’s?
Yes there are because in this article we’re speaking of different Arabic versions, not English translations. Unlike the Qur’ān the Bible is originally written in Hebrew and Greek, therefore, for Muslims to point at English translations and claim there’s many Bible versions is untrue. There’s only 1 Bible in Hebrew and Greek, in speaking of the Qur’ān there’s the Hafs, Warsh, Doori, Al-Susi, Qaloon, Abi Jafar, al-Bazzi and many more.
We would like to take the time to invite Muslims to come to the better and bigger book the Bible and learn about the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ that they might have salvation.
Muslims continue to deny the insurmountable evidence that the Qur’ān has not been preserved and is riddled with errors and contradictions. Different diacritical marks which changes the meaning of the word. How can anyone believe in a book which has multiple readings according to the original language (Arabic)?
At some point Lord willing, we’ll also take a “Deep Dive” into the rasm which is the consonantal skeletal text of the Qur’ān. Showing the variants between the Islamic manuscripts.
Hafs Qur’ān Vs. Heshaam ibn Ammar Qur’ān
Most Muslims are familiar reading the Hafs Qur’ān and are completely unaware of all the other versions out there. Therefore, being a kind individual I think the right thing to do is to inform our Muslim friends so that they are not ignorant of their existence.
Hafs Qur’ān Arabic Text
Here’s the Arabic text from the Hafs, if you notice above the yellow line we have the word Miskeenen. By taking a good look at the word and comparing it with the following text provided we can see that they are not the same word, Miskeenen is a singular word.
Hafs Qur’ān: Miskeenen
… And as for those who can fast with difficulty, may effect a redemption by feeding A POOR PERSON…
Heshaam ibn Ammar Qur’ān Arabic Text
Here we have the text from Heshaam ibn Ammar, once again observing the word above the yellow line we can see this is a completely different word from the Hafs. Masaakeena is a plural word and is written differently.
Heshaam ibn Ammar Qur’ān: Masaakeena
… And as for those who can fast with difficulty, may effect a redemption by feeding POOR MEN …
Conclusion
Muslims have a dilemma if the Qur’ān commands them to perform a certain deed how can they be sure they are doing what’s expected of them? For those who are unable to fast, can they feed just one poor man, or are they required to feed many poor men?
We’re introducing variant readings from different Arabic Qur’ān’s providing evidence that the standard Islamic narrative of there being only one Qur’ān is completely untrue. But don’t take my word for it, we’re providing the Arabic text which has different diacritical marks which changes the meaning of the ayat (sign).
Hafs Qur’ān Vs. Ibn Jafar Qur’ān
Hafs Qur’ān Arabic Text
Hafs Qur’ān: waa’adnaadum “We made an appointment (date)”
O children of Israel, we delivered you from your enemy, and We made an appointment with you at the right side of the mount when We sent down to you manna and quails
Ibn Jafar Qur’ān Arabic Text
Ibn Jafar Qur’ān: wa’adnaakum “We promised you”
O children of Israel, we delivered you from your enemy, and We promised you at the right side of the mount when We sent down to you manna and quails
Conclusion
Question for Muslims: Did they make an appointment, or did they promise? Making an appointment is different than promising. Please note “you” in Ibn Jafar is plural, while Hafs is singular.
The standard Islamic Narrative when it comes to the Qur’ān is that there’s only one Qur’ān, but how true is this? Muslims when crazy 4 years ago when Jay Smith and Hatun Tash introduced 26 different Arabic Qur’ān’s at speaker’s corner. To date there are about 37-40 different Arabic Qur’ān’s which have variants, contradicting one another.
We’re going to introduce this series of variant readings of the different Qur’ān’s providing the Arabic for your viewing pleasure.
Hafs Qur’ān Vs. Warsh Qur’ān
The Hafs Qur’ān is being the most popular among Muslims today, the second most popular version is the Warsh Qur’ān mostly used in the following countries Algeria, Morocco, parts of Tunisia, West Africa and Sudan. Below is a reading of Surah 21:4 from both the Hafs and Warsh.
Hafs Qur’ān Arabic Text
Hafs Qur’ān: qaala “He said”
HE SAID: My Lord knows what is spoken in the heaven and the earth, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Warsh Qur’ān Arabic Text
Warsh Qur’ān: qul “Say (imperative: God is speaking)”
SAY; My Lord knows whatever is said throughout the heaven and the earth, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Conclusion
Question for Muslims: Is Muhammad the one speaking here, or is Allah commanding? Is this injunction coming from man or God?
In this article we are going to prove that the Holy Spirit is indeed a Person distinct from the Father, contrary to the Christadelphian belief in which they reject the Personhood of the Spirit of God.
We reject the doctrine – that the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father.
The Christadelphians claim the Holy Spirit is not a Person, when the Lord Jesus was baptised we see something interesting. We have Christ in the water, the heavens were opened “the Spirit of God” came down upon Jesus and we have a voice from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” there’s no mistake that the voice from heaven was God the Father.
But we have a classic view of the Trinity in this passage (1) Jesus Christ in the water (2) The Holy Spirit coming down as a dove (3) A voice from heaven which is God the Father. 3 distinct Persons are involved in Matthew 3:16-17.
The Christadephians would still reject this claiming this is not enough proof, ok let’s see if we have more evidence for the Personhood of the Holy Spirit? There are certain categories in which we can prove the Holy Spirit possesses Personhood.
Intelligence
The Holy Spirit shows the capability to know, think and understand, He searches all the deep things concerning God. The Holy Spirit is capable of knowing all the divine truth of the Godhead. This is a character trait of Personhood. Just as the Lord Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things concerning Him (John 14:26).
How can “energy” be grieved? It cannot because energy doesn’t have a capacity to feel emotions. Only a Person has the ability to be grieved, and if they experience grief they can also experience the capacity to love as well.
Will
Lastly, He has the ability to decide and act according to His will. According to this verse in Corinthians the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts as He wills. Thereby, this shows the Spirit of God through His actions of giving is a Person.
These 3 passages show the Holy Spirit is possesses the ability of intelligence, the capacity of emotion feeling love and grief, and He can also give gifts according to His will. This are characteristics only a Person can have. The Holy Spirit is not some “force”, “energy” or power emanating from God.
1) God is weeding out His children from Satan’s children (Matthew 13)
Matthew 13
It’s ironic that Matthew 13 is mentioned because it concerns the Gospel message, something the WMSCOG doesn’t teach. The chapter concerns the parable of the sower and the different soils and their reaction to the Gospel message. In the case of Raven I wonder which of these soils she identifies herself as and why?
2) Everything on earth that is made, is made to teach us what is in heaven. It is a copy and shadow, heaven is the reality and earth is the shadow. (Like the family system on earth, consisting of a dad, mom and children teaching us that we have a spiritual family) (Heb 8:5, Rom 1:10)
Hebrews 8:5 Talks about a better ministry which is in Christ, how He is our Great High Priest serving as our Mediator. In that the Old Testament priest who served in the temple was not perfect it was inferior compared to Jesus Christ and His ministry as our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), that’s the context of Hebrews 8:5
The best practice is reading not only the highlighted verse but also the surrounding text to get a clear view of what’s being taught. And we see it certainly doesn’t refer to a “family system on earth” as Raven suggest. Here’s the following verse:
Notice these words “a more excellent ministry”, “mediator of a better covenant” and “better promises” this is what the context is speaking of, Jesus as the one who fulfills the role of our Mediator.
Romans 1:10 is talking about how Paul brought the message of the Gospel, he was talking to believers in Christ. Paul was thankful for the believers in Rome and prayed that he might visit them again in the near future and wanted his journey to be according to the will of God. That’s all the verse is speaking about.
3) The old covenant was written to teach us, all the stories are prophecy about us spiritually. We are living in the New testament times. Revelation isn’t the only book about us, the whole bible is. (Romans 15:4)
Romans 15:4 is an Old Testament reference found in the Psalms, while they were not written directly to us, they hold vital lessons for us. When we go through problems no matter what they might be the Scriptures teach us to remain steadfast in our faith, and they give us comfort. That we have nothing to fear because the LORD will hold us up.
But not all of the Bible is prophecy, much of it is also historical, poetical and doctrinal. The WMSCOG looks to spiritualize the entire Bible and in doing so has convoluted the message and clear teaching of the scriptures.
4) God speaks in parables, that only He allows His chosen to read with correct understanding, it is spiritually sealed. That is why there are 850+ denominations because only God can interpret His own salvation work, human minds can only try/attempt to know and teach the gospel but do not succeed. This is why God had to come again in the flesh, to correct what was ruined so that we could know the way to have salvation. (Isaiah 2:3, Matt 13:10, Rev 5:1-4)
The Lord Jesus spoke in parables for a purpose, it was the plan of God because if the Jews would have accepted Christ as the Messiah in the beginning they wouldn’t have crucified Him which was necessary for our salvation. The crucifixion had to happen, it was the infinite wisdom of God to save us through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus spoke in parables.
Raven mentions denominations. While I do not subscribe to denominations what she doesn’t understand is any denomination which believes in the primary essential truths is what determines if a person is a Christian, which are (1) the Trinity (Father, Son, The Holy Spirit) (2) Jesus is God (3) Salvation is by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone (4) Believers baptism. If any denomination denies any of the foundational truths then they are heretical.
Secondary beliefs does not determine if someone is Christian, some secondary beliefs are (1) how someone is baptised (full immersion in water backwards or forwards) (2) the role of women in the church (3) how corporate worship is to be conducted (4) shall one pastor lead or a plurality of elders.
5) Women are supposed to wear veils during worship, so she can worship God directly and correctly (cancelling out her “head”, which is man (world system is Christ, man and then woman) (1 Corinthians 11:3-9)
The covering for woman is for a few reasons (1) Headship in the order of creation, man (Adam) was created first then woman (Eve). (2) Because of the angels “For this cause ought the woman to have power on [her] head because of the angels.” (1 Corinthians 11:10). (3) This is to be done during corporate worship, men pray uncovered and woman are to be covered.
The veil is not how women can directly worship God, women just like men can worship God directly through Christ, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain” giving all believers direct access to God (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).
In the book of Hebrews we’re told how Christ paved the way for us to approach God (Hebrews 6:19). And we now have boldness when coming into the presence of God because Jesus Christ made the way for us through His blood.
6) New covenant does not mean we stop doing everything God commanded, the law was established through the old covenant, we still keep it even in this time of 2020, just in a different way (not animal sacrifices etc.) (Matt 5:17, Matt 19:17)
Raven believes that because Christ said He came to fulfil the Law that we also must follow the Old Covenant, I’m wondering if she knows that the Bible says the Old Covenant is waxed old and vanishing away?
The ignorance of WMSCOG is that they don’t understand why Christians worship on Sunday. Immediately after Jesus victoriously rose from the dead, some Jewish converts were confused about certain practices such as circumcision, which day of worship to observe, and whether or not to observe the Jewish feasts. These issues were addressed by Paul in Colossians 2:14-17 and Galatians 5:6. Paul enters the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath in order to preach the Gospel to the Jews (Acts 17:2, 18:4) and afterwards gathers with believers on Sunday (Acts 20:7).
Remember Saturday is not the first day of the week, it’s the 7th day of the week, but here we see on the first day of the week which is Sunday; the disciples came together.
It’s ver unfortunate that people like Raven and others are being mislead into thinking they are capable of keep the Law. We are not perfect and the reason why God gave the Law ultimately was to show us how incapable we are to keep it. The Old Testament Law is called a schoolmaster in the book of Galatians and Paul tells us what was the purpose of the schoolmaster.
The purpose of the Law was to show us how sinful we are so that we would run to Jesus Christ for salvation, it’s through our faith in Christ that we are justified and made right with God. It’s not by keeping certain days like the Sabbath.
Lastly, notice how Raven says “I am sorry if you are one of those people who have experienced church and it be a nightmare for you, or something unholy happened that broke your trust and faith.”
We should never judge God by what a group of men have done, we always look to God Himself to see who He is, there are people out there who claim to love God and would do a person wrong. But that’s man who messed up not God. The WMSCOG claims to be the “true church” they are not the only cult which claims this. Here are a few quotes from some other cults.
Notice the similarities between the WMSCOG and these other cults which claim their church is the only true church.
Watchtower Quotes (Jehovah Witnesses)
Jehovah Witnesses claim any group outside of their own are considered “False religions”, and the only way to understand the Bible is through them.
If you remember what Raven said she mentioned “You will not find another church that teaches Gods mysteries” in other words in her mind only the WMSCOG alone is the “truth”. No. Only Jesus Christ alone is the Truth (John 14:6) and I hope that Raven and other WMSCOG members will come to know this for themselves, it’s not about a church; it’s about a Person and that’s Jesus Christ.
If you’re a current WMSCOG member this is not an article written to be a personal attack against you, but a wake up call. A call to you to be “noble and search the scriptures daily whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11), just like the Bereans we also need to dig into the scriptures and “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Salvation is not found in WMSCOG or any other group, Eternal Life is only found in Jesus Christ. We must be sure that we are following the real Jesus Christ of the Bible, Jesus said that their will be many false Christ (Matthew 24:23-28; Mark 13:21-23). The WMSCOG preaches a false Christ but it’s up to you to look into the scriptures and sift through the evidence, I hope for your own sake that you’ll put your feelings to the side and see if these things are true.
A good source for learning more about the erroneous teachings of the WMSCOG from ex-members some of which were leaders in the group. Is a channel called Great Light Studios run by a believer named Jordan, he has current and ex-members come on and discuss teachings from the WMSCOG. Feel free to check them out.
The World Mission Society Church of God originated in South Korea and it’s led by a woman in her mid-70s, also known as Jang Gil-ja, Zhang Gil-jah, Chang Gil-jah, “heavenly mother”, “god the mother”, “New Jerusalem mother”, and “mother Jerusalem”. Created by Ahnsahnghong, who’s believed to be her late husband, and it’s also claimed that he was the second coming of Christ, along with Jang Gil-ja are together known as “Elohim God”.
If Ahnsahnghong was the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, yet Ahnsahnghong died February 25, 1985 then how can WMSCOG explain this verse in the Bible which says Jesus only died once and cannot die again?
Raven’s Revelations wrote an article titled “7 Christian Truths Pt. l“. I was curious to learn how WMSCOG members interpreted scripture, and test these beliefs to see if they actually aligned with the scriptures.
“I want to keep my “preaching/sharing” to a minimum when it comes to online. However, since people skim through here and this is a Christian (Spiritual) blog, I believe it’s best to incorporate some things here and there. It is not to argue or become controversial, it is just sharing knowledge. Not my own, but God’s.” — Raven’s Revelations
The preface is that what’s shared is not her Raven’s “knowledge. … but God’s.” We’re told it’s God’s knowledge, she also says “I am not an expert or a teacher, but I have been taught and do believe what the Word says”. Raven admits to not being an expert or teacher but she’s been taught, does this means the WMSCOG alone has “the truth”?
She mentions “Even though next to these truths there will be referenced bible verses, it doesn’t mean you will fully understand where the truth came from through that verse…but it’s a start to plant the seed.” Raven is implying she has special insight (revelation) to the meaning of these verses, this truly lives up to the name of her blog.
Lastly, like all the rest she directs you to the WMSCOG website at the bottom of her page. Members are taught that WMSCOG alone knows the Bible. And unless you’re part of their church then you cannot have salvation, this is the mindset groups like this produce.
1) “We have a Heavenly Father, but also a Heavenly Mother. (There is a male a female image of God). We come from a complete family (Gen 1:26-27, Gal 4:26, Rev 19:7 & 22:17)”
As humans we need a male and female to produce offspring, but not so with God, He’s not subject to the laws of creation, God doesn’t procreate (produce offspring sexually) which is a blasphemous thing to insinuate. The WMSCOG interpolates this idea into the Bible by saying believers are children of God, hence, therefore there must be a Father and mother.
This is simply not true, we are children of God because the LORD has given us His Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 4:8).
The WMSCOG frequently quotes Galatians 4:26 illustrating the existence of “god the mother”. Galatians mentions a “Jerusalem above“ that is spoken to be the “mother” of believers in Christ. So, what exactly does this imply? The premise of the context in Galatians is speaking of Faith VS Works, there’s no reason to suppose this passage teaches a “mother god”?
WMSCOG misinterprets the context of the passage, Paul never mentions a “god the mother”, the context is addressing the fact that believers are free in Christ. Paul says this was an allegory to convey a particular message (Galatians 4:24). Paul takes us back into the Torah concerning the dispute between Sarah and Hagar.
Paul makes a distinction between 2 covenants namely the Torah (The Law) and the New Testament the grace of God. In Genesis 21 were reminded of Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was born from Hagar the bondwoman and Isaac was born from the free woman Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Hagar (slave) represented the Old Testament Law and Sarah a free woman the New Testament how we are made free, with that ground work laid we can see what the passage in Galatians says. The next verse says that the children of Hagar (Agar) are in bondage with her, also mount Sinai is identified with Hagar as that’s where God gave the Law to Moses.
The verse also says these children of Hagar answer to Jerusalem, back in Genesis Hagar was under the authority of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Abraham is told by Sarah to have a child with Hagar because Sarah cannot have children due to her barren womb. Abraham shouldn’t have done this as God promised him s son from Sarah. After Hagar give birth to Ishmael to Sarah’s amazement she finds herself pregnant and gives birth to Isaac.
When Ishmael mocked Isaac Sarah told Abraham to send away Hagar and Ishmael for he will never be heir with Isaac (Genesis 21:9-10). When Paul refers to Jerusalem as “our mother,” he’s not referring to a 2nd deity referred to as “god the mother.” The Jerusalem mentioned above is the “new covenant” of righteousness through faith, Paul’s encouraging believers to remember they are not children under the old covenant = “Hagar”, but rather under the new covenant = “Sarah”. In Gal 4 Sarah is paralleled with the “Jerusalem above,” and so Sarah herself is another symbol or representation of faith. Hagar is also used as a symbol of “works.”
All individuals who pursue righteousness through deeds, according to Paul, are Hagar’s children. This poses a huge problem for WMSCOG doctrine, if WMSCOG desires to interpret Sarah’s and Jerusalem’s symbolism as a teaching about a “god the mother,” they must also take into account the reality that Hagar is a “mother” also. If Sarah is a representation of “god the mother,” then Hagar must be a representation of another god. This concept is problematic for WMSCOG doctrine.
Revelation 19:7 & 22:17
Raven mentions Rev 19:7 & 22:17 as proof “there is a male a female image of God” this passage is called the Marriage of the Lamb, the Lamb being Jesus Christ (John 1:29; 1:36; Rev 5:6). If WMSCOG claims that if Rev 19:7 is speaking of the wife of the Lamb, are they then stating that Jesus’ wife is His own mother?
Revelation 22:17 mentions the bride again if this verse is speaking about “god the mother” then is Jesus marrying His mother? Obviously, these claims are ridiculous and I would hope that members of WMSCOG are not claiming this.
“We may wonder if 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ ever taught about God the Mother. He did. Jesus Christ explained through the parable of the Wedding Banquet that God the Mother would appear in our time. He starts the parable by comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding banquet.” — WMSCOG
They then quote a verse in Matthew to substantiate their position. “‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.’”Matthew 22:2
Again are they saying Jesus Christ married “god the mother” by quoting Matthew 22:2 it says “a wedding banquet for his son”
Both Revelation 19:7 and 22:17 is speaking about the Lord Jesus being married to the collective body of believers (saints) in Christ, also known as the bride of Christ.
2) Passover is the way to eternal life and it is once a year (communion and other ceremonies is a mimicking of that, that does not provide eternal life.) (John 6:53-54, Matthew 26:26-28, Leviticus 23:4)
WMSCOG teaches that we must “keep the passover” for eternal life. This couldn’t be further from the truth literally. Concerning eternal life Jesus said:
Only through Jesus Christ can a person receive eternal life, keeping the passover was given to the children of Israel in the Old Testament only for that dispensation which is contain in the Law of Moses. God never intended for anyone to earn everlasting life by keeping the Law, in the book of Romans and Galatians we read that no one will be justified by the Law (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:11).
The disciples ate the bread and drank the wine, but they did not literally eat and drink Jesus’ flesh and blood. The Lord Jesus simply expressed that we would never be saved unless we apply the value of His dying for us on Calvary via faith. We must believe in Him and trust Him as our personal Savior.
The Saviour instituted the Lord’s Supper, the essential emblems (bread and wine) were on the table as part of the Paschal meal; the Lord Jesus taught them the meaning. He took the bread, blessed and broke it. He gave it to the disciples and said “take, eat, this is My body” His body had not yet been given on the cross, it’s clear that He was speaking figuratively using the bread to symbolize His body not literally.
The Passover commemorated Israel’s redemption from their bondage in Egypt. The Passover lamb was type of Christ, the Lamb of God our passover (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Lord Jesus’ blood was shed to redeem us from slavery to our sins. Additionally, the Pharisees
3) The Sabbath (day of rest) is Saturday, not Sunday or whenever we want (it was moved by Satan through Roman Emperor Constantine after the last Apostle John died). (Leviticus 23:3, Luke 6)
WMSCOG doesn’t understand that while the Sabbath is Saturday, Christians worship Christ everyday but the reason why we come together on Sunday (Lord’s day) is because Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.
The WMSCOG are not reading verses in their immediate context that’s how these groups suck people into their false teachings. It’s nothing new there were false teachers in the day’s of Jesus and the apostles we should expect them even today.
The early church came together on the 1st day of the week (Sunday) for the Breaking of Bread found in Acts. A new dispensation was brought in as the believers now gathered on Sunday after the Lord Jesus was risen from the dead.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, the Pharisees had questioned the Lord Jesus because His disciples picked corn on the sabbath day when they were hungry. They asked: “Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?” (Mark 2:24). Jesus seeing their hypocrisy answered saying:
God in the Old Testament allowed king David to eat the showbread which was unlawful, but at the time king David was not reigning yet, the Lord Jesus being the King of kings had His disciples eat corn and the Pharisees didn’t show any compassion towards them. One of the great commandments in the law is to “love your neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:34-39; Mark 12:28–34; Luke 10:25–28 ).
4) Christmas, St. Patrick, St. Valentines, Thanksgiving and other man-made holidays are pagan and most have the underlying worship of gods (Sun god Mithra mostly) (Daniel 7:25).
Raven’s Revelations talks about holidays as being pagan and then misuses Daniel 7:25 to make her point. The problem is that this verse has nothing to do with holidays, this verse is speaking of the anti-christ which would come in the future.
Paul addressed this issue in the book of Romans, one person may regard or esteem a day while another believer doesn’t.
This argument about holidays is a moot point because there are Christians who don’t celebrate and there are those who do, the important critical issue are not if someone celebrates Christmas. The important issue is who do they believe Jesus Christ is and what the Bible teaches in terms of the foundational truths of the Christian faith.
5) We are on earth because we sinned in heaven and the way to go back to heaven is to repent. We don’t remember anything because we were cut off from the 4th dimension and put on the prisoners’ outfit (our flesh). Where we can no longer fly, or be immortal. (Revelation 12:9, Job 38:4 & 21) Satan was the one to deceive us in heaven and is the reason we are all here on earth, everyone on earth was once an angel and God casted him and us down to earth instead of hell because of His mercy and love. The story of Adam and Eve is about us.
None of the 66 books of the Bible state that humans existed and “we sinned in heaven”, mankind came into existence after the 1st man and woman were created by God in the garden. Humans do not come from angels, how do we know this? Christ became Man, He took onto Himself human nature not angels, we read about this in Philippians and Hebrews.
The fist chapter of Hebrews tells us no angel was called God’s Son (Hebrews 1:5). Therefore, we can conclude that Jesus Christ being a Man never took on the nature of angels. Christ became one of us in order to bear our sins in His body.
Revelation 12:9 is speaking of Satan and those angels which rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven. This has nothing to do with Adam or the human race which came from the 1st man and woman.
Raven’s argument is that “we sinned in heaven and the way to go back to heaven is to repent”, by quoting Revelation 12:9 she’s saying humans were cast out of heaven along with Satan. If she wants to take that stance then there couldn’t be any salvation for us if this verse is talking about mankind. Satan is forever condemned along with those who followed him, unless she’s willing to say Satan can be saved?
When reading verses they must be placed in their context and harmonize with all of the Bible. Satan and his followers are eternally condemned and cannot be saved, therefore, this verse in Revelation cannot be referring to mankind.
The book of Job uses poetic language and in Job 38:4 God is asking Job a rhetorical question, God asked “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” In other words Job was not there when God laid the foundations of the earth. How can Raven reconcile this if humans were angels and immortal? God disagrees with her and is saying, you were not there when He created the earth.
The same is true with Job 38:21, reading the chapter you’ll realise that God is questioning Job and proving that Job is a created creature and God is the Creator. Just as the potter and the clay, the clay cannot ask the potter why did you make me like this (Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9; Romans 9:20)?
6) In the last days (which we are in) God is coming back in the flesh with a new name FIRST, before He comes in fire to judge the world (rapture is not biblical, but a theory)(Hebrews 9:27-28, Rev 3:11-12)
Verses 9:27-28 contrast between the 2 Covenants, the Torah (the Law) and the New Covenant which Jesus Christ Himself made possible by His sacrifice. The Law condemned sinners to death “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”, the New Covenant introduces the infinite sacrifice of Christ to atone for our sins “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many”.
The Rapture known in Greek as the harpazō ἁρπαγησόμεθα “shall be caught up” is biblical. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Paul says to the believers in Thessalonica told the believers that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven, and call believers to meet Him in the air. This is the harpazō (Rapture) which is also known as a violent snatching away.
Paul reminds us that all believers who are in Christ, those who are asleep (the grave) and alive before the Rapture, will be caught or snatched up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This is not something unusual to scripture. Paul was caught up into paradise in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
Revelation 3:11-12 talks of Christ’s coming and that believers are to remain steadfast, and not to allow anyone to rob them of their crown. Believers will be made overcomers and made a pillar in the inner sanctuary of the LORD. Believers will given a name by the Lord and this Jerusalem is the city which will come down out of heaven, this is not referring to a person called “mother god” but a city “and the name of the city of my God”.
7) Satan runs this entire world, although God is king, the world is Satan’s playground only for a certain amount of time. Satan wants to deceive as many people as he can, even through church and priests, in order to bring as many people to where he is headed when this is all said and done. (John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4)
It’s true that Satan “runs this entire world” but God is only allowing it for a certain duration of time. The important issue is are you in Christ that’s the only place anyone will be safe from the deception of Satan. And WMSCOG is being used by Satan to deceive many people into believing a false gospel.
The world was judged when they crucified the Lord of Glory Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:8), likewise the prince of this world Satan was defeated at Calvary. He tried to stop Christ but instead the Lord Jesus provided a way for all guilty sinners to be reconciled to God through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
Satan here is called the god of this age, he’s been very successful in keeping people blind to the truth of the Gospel. Keeping them in darkness and away from the the light of the Gospel and the Light of Christ who is the Light of the world (John 8:12; John 9:5). Satan places barriers making it harder for men and women to come to Christ for salvation, cults like the WMSCOG preaches a works based salvation which clearly contradicts Ephesians 2:8-10. Salvation is apart from works (Romans 4:6; Psalm 32:2; Philippians 3:9)
Conclusion
I commend the fact that she (Raven’s Revelations) has a love to want to know God, that’s a wonderful thing. What’s sad is seeing her love and zeal for wanting to know God has lead her astray by a cult. The Bible speaks about this in the book of 2 Timothy, it tells us to beware of false teachers.
I would highly suggest that if Raven really wants to know what the Bible teaches then she needs to step back from the WMSCOG and read the Bible on her own. I don’t know how long she’s been involved with this group but others who came out of it said the longer you stay in the harder it is to learn the Bible properly, because of all the false teachings you have to unlearn. My prayers goes out ti individuals like these because they have been exploited even though she genuinely wants to know who God is.
The Watchtower’s position is that Jesus Christ is the first created creature Jehovah made, they cite passages such as Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14 to prove their point. But upon further look does this make sense according to what the Bible teaches? The Lord Jesus clearly stated that He existed before He came to Earth through the virgin birth.
When discussing the deity of Christ with Jehovah Witnesses they will bring up the word firstborn in Colossians 1:15-17 and this is how it reads in their New World Translation.
If we take a look at the Watchtower’s Kingdom Greek Interlinear (also found on their website) the deception becomes more clear. This same passage reads:
Why does the Watchtower insert the word “other” when it’s not found in the Greek text, if you read it with and without the word “other” you can see the significance of how the word “other” alters the text to fit with the WT’s view that Jesus is a created creature.
The word “other” is rendered in 2 different ways in the Greek. One is allos and the other is heteros.
ἄλλοςállos, al’-los; a primary word; “else,” i.e. different (in many applications):—more, one (another), (an-, some an-)other(-s, -wise).
ἕτεροςhéteros, het’-er-os; of uncertain affinity; (an-, the) other or different:—altered, else, next (day), one, (an-)other, some, strange.
Looking closely at the Greek text you will not find either one of these words in Colossians 1:15-17. Here’s the Greek text:
According to Colossians verse 15 Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature, JW’s claim the word firstborn means Jesus was “created”. If so then how do they interpret Jesus being the firstborn from the dead In verse 18?
The word firstborn in Greek is prōtotokos (πρωτότοκος) which can mean a literal birth, but the word is also used figuratively as well. The context of the passage dictates how the word firstborn is to be interpreted. The rest of the passage tells us that Jesus Christ created all things in heaven, in earth visible and invisible. The Lord Jesus is the one doing the creating, again in verse 18 it says that Jesus would have the preeminence (Superiority).
According to the Watchtower Jesus is the first created creature by Jehovah, if this is so then how did Jesus exist outside of time? Time is created by God and if Jesus is only a “creature” how can a creature exist outside of time, unless He’s God. Additionally, if Jesus was created before the heavens and earth, where did Jesus exist if there was no heaven for him to exist in?
By asking these questions we see how quickly the theology of Jehovah Witnesses doesn’t hold up. It’s not our intention to tear down JW’s but we’re challenging their beliefs in order to make them think. If they would put down the Watchtower magazine and read the Bible (not the NWT), then they might see how wrong the teachings of the Watchtower are.
God is never referred to in the female tense then how are members from WMSCOG deceived into believing such a thing? Like all cults the WMSCOG twist scriptures to get their doctrines into the heads of many people who are lacking understanding of what the Bible teaches.
This quote makes the fallacy of equivocation mistake. The logic used is because humans experience the makings of a family which consist of children who are born from a father and mother, therefore, it makes sense that God the Father would need a “mother god” in order to create. It’s a carnal way of thinking, the WMSCOG creates a humanistic God. They’re trying to reduce the Eternal God of the Bible bringing Him down to our human standard. On the WMSCOG site under “god the mother” they cite a few scriptures stating these are proof of “god the mother” under the heading God the Mother Exists they cite Romans 1:19-20.
There’s no evidence proving any existence of “god the mother” in the above verses. The WMSCOG uses this to allude to their being a “god the mother” in saying it’s a “mystery”. The context of Romans 1:19-20 is speaking of unbelief and the consequences thereof. The unregenerate man looks at creation, he enjoys its sunsets, gazes at the stars, and realises the vastness of the sea. Then he begins to see himself in the true light and where does he fit in all of this? He contemplates how all of this came to be (Job 7:17; Job 15:14; Psalm 8:4; 144:3; Ecclesiastes 6:11; Hebrews 2:6)?
Romans 1:19-20 is telling us that mankind has no excuse when the time comes that we will stand before our Creator to give an account of all that we’ve done in this life. God has given us more than a sufficient amount of evidence for His existence. There will not be 1 Atheist who will appear before the Almighty God and claim that God didn’t reveal Himself to them, because the creation testify’s of the Creator (Psalm 19:1; 97:6).
Another verse they use to argue that the Bible teaches a “god the mother” is found in Genesis.
All Christians believe in the Godhead, we believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the one God spoken of in Deuteronomy 6:4. Nowhere in the Bible is “god the mother” spoken of, when Christ told the disciples “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” wouldn’t this have been a perfect time to mention “god the mother”?
Yet, the Lord Jesus never mentions anything about any female deity, in Genesis 1:26 Elohim which is the plural Hebrew word for “gods”, it’s also a generic term used for even false gods. In Exodus 32 when the people asked Aaron to “make us gods” the word there is also Elohim. God in His infinite wisdom knew that He was to be distinguished from other “gods” which are not gods at all but idols.
This is the reason Moses asked God saying “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” Moses knew that there were many “gods” the Bible speaks of Molech, Baal, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, the heathens often caused the children of Israel to worship false gods. God made sure we knew He alone is the True God telling Moses IAMTHATIAM (Exodus 3:14). The True God Yahweh wanted to be certain that He was recognisable as the true God among all the idols that littered the land.
If the WMSCOG cannot bring clear scriptures from the Bible to substantiate their claim, then we must reject this false idea of “god the mother” just because as humans we need a male and female to produce offspring. God is not subjected to the laws of creation, He doesn’t procreate which is a blasphemous thing to even insinuate by saying that since believers are children of God therefore there must be a Father and mother.
This is simply not true, we are children of God because the LORD has given us His Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 4:8). If you’ve found yourself part of WMSCOG I highly suggest that you leave and don’t come back, instead go to Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus Christ is not God the Father, which is another erroneous teaching we will explore, He’s the Son of God who can save you from your sins. God bless.
This Quranic verse claims that Muslims believe what was “revealed” to the people of the book which are Jews and Christians. Yet, Muslims don’t believe what Jews and Christians believe; Muslims and Jews disagree that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Surah 4:157). And Muslims clearly disagree with Christians that Jesus Christ is God (Revelation 1:8). Then how is this ayat correct if Muslims don’t believe what Jews and Christians believe?
The following verse tells Muslims that if they are confused or unsure of something revealed from Allah, then they are to go to those people who have been reading the scripture before them. This is referring to Jews and Christians as Allah claims he sent the Torah (the 5 books of Moses) and the Injeel (the Gospel).
Tafsir al-Jalalayn: “So if you O Muhammad (s) are in doubt concerning what We have revealed to you of stories — hypothetically speaking — then question those who read the Scripture the Torah before you for it is confirmed therein with them and they can inform you of its truth. The Prophet s said ‘I have no doubt nor will I question’. Verily the Truth from your Lord has come to you; so do not be of the waverers of those who have doubts about it.”
If Muslims are to go to the people of the book to confirm what was given before the Quran why is it Muslims claim the Bible is corrupted? Questions then need to be asked when was the Bible “corrupted” and how, which verses are corrupted? Are they saying Allah is directing people to read from the Bible yet it’s somehow corrupted, wouldn’t that make Allah a false god?
If Muslims knew how the Bible was written and communicated throughout the world they wouldn’t bring such arguments. We have numerous parts of the New Testament manuscripts more than all other ancient historical documents. Up to 5,800 completed or fragmented Greek manuscripts, as well as 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 others such as Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Armenian.
In order for the Bible to have been corrupted all of these manuscripts which were distributed all over the world would have to be collected, and then they would have to physically change these manuscripts. If something had occurred we would have been able to detect any manuscripts tampering such as insertions, overwriting, erasers such as we find when it comes to the Quranic manuscripts.
If Muslims want to say that the Gospel was lost then when was it lost, did Muhammad have the real Bible with him when this ayat was revealed? If he did then how about all the manuscript evidence we have before Muhammad came that was distributed all over? If the Bible was changed before Muhammad then this would prove he’s a false prophet because he’s directing people to a “corrupt book” as Muslims claim.
The Black Hebrew Israelites always claim that God is only concerned with Israel and not non-Israelites. They even go as far as to say the word Gentile refers to Israelites who somehow don’t know they are an Israelite and have been living in places in the Bible like Ethiopia, Phenice, Cyprus, Antioch, Seleucia etc. But the Bible is very clear in making distinctions between Israelites and Gentiles.
Passages such as Acts 11 after Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius a Roman Centurion we’re told that God granted eternal life to the Gentiles in the same way He has given to the Israelites, shows a distinction these Gentiles are not Israelites who were living in these places. That’s not to say there weren’t Jews in other lands but God’s word keeps us from confusion in every occasion when it refers to Jews in another land we read words like synagogue and proceeding are indicators of what land Pisidia in the case of Acts 13:14.
The BHI will refer to Isaiah 14:1-2 and claim that Israelites are going to posses non-Israelites as slaves in the future. Is that what the Bible says, that Israelites will have non-Israelites as slaves or did this already take place? That’s what I’m going to demonstrate here.
This is the jumping off text the BHI use for their argument that they will be given slaves. If we read the verse in isolation it does seem to say that Israel will possess non-Israelites as servants, but we must ask the question is did this already take place?
In the Bible we’re told that Israel suffered 3 major captivities, Egypt, Assyrian and Babylonian. The previous chapter in the same book Isaiah gives us the context to Isaiah 14:1-2.
Isaiah 13:17-19 says that the LORD “will stir up the Medes against them”, who is “them” in this verse? If we continue on it tells us who the Medes are stirred up against “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,”. We learn that the Medes otherwise known as the Medo-Persia kingdom were stirred up against Babylon and that kingdom will be likened to when “God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah”. We’ll see how this comes together in the book of Daniel. Continuing on the prophet Jeremiah made a prophecy concerning the children of Israel going into captivity.
Here we have the prophet Jeremiah telling us that the LORD gave the lands to “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon”. Also, 2 verses down God says that any nation which rebels against God’s will which is that these nations would put themself under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and if they refused they would be punished. How will God punish them? The LORD says that nation will be punished “with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence” until they have been consumed.
Remember king Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan Gentile who ruled over a Gentile nation called Babylon.
Hananiah makes a false prophecy saying the Babylonian captivity will only last for 2 years and the people rejected Jeremiah as he had told them previously the captivity would last for 70 years. Unfortunately, the people harkened to the false prophecy of Hananiah and suffered for it and Israel went into Babylonian captivity.
Daniel gives the account of what happened when Israel was in the land of Babylon, in chapter 5 Belshazzar a descendant of king Nebuchadnezzar made a feast. While they feasted Belshazzar commanded that they bring the golden and silver vessels of worship which were used in the temple by the priest of Israel. The golden and silver vessels were then defiled by Belshazzar as they poured wine into the cups and drank out of them, and while committing idolatry as they “praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone”.
The finger of God writes on the wall “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” and in fear Belshazzar has his astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers to interpret but were unable to interpret what was written on the wall. The queen tells him of Daniel, that he has a gift for interpreting dreams as he has done before for his father Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is brought before the king and predicts doom for Babylon because of this abomination he committed in desecrating the the golden and silver vessels of the house of God.
Daniel tells Belshazzar his kingdom has come to an end and that the kingdom of Babylon is given to the Medes and Persians. Darius the Median took the kingdom and ruled Babylon once Belshazzar was slain that very night. This was a fulfillment of Isaiah 13:17-19 in which the LORD said He “will stir up the Medes against them” and overthrew them (Babylon) like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Here’s where it all comes together after the 70 years of captivity king Cyrus a Gentile was raised up by the LORD as a shepherd and by a decree made by Cyrus, the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and city. Not all of Israel chose to return to Jerusalem, Daniel stood behind in Babylon as well as others, only a remnant went back to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the temple.
But not only Israelites returned to Jerusalem, Gentile nations, non-Israelites, would assist returning with them to live in the land. Israel’s former overlords would become bondservants to help in the rebuilding of the city and temple this is recorded for us in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
1 Chronicles 9:1
1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they [were] written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, [who] were carried away to Babylon for their transgression.
The verse here in 1 Chronicles 9 tells us all Israel was “reckoned by genealogies”, those who returned came back in subsequent waves. Here in 1 Chronicles we’re told that “ the first inhabitants” were “the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims”. In Jerusalem we have “Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh” which returned.
Here’s the knock out remember Israel would “possess” servants and handmaids, in Ezra 2 we’re given a long list of the rest of the people who returned but in verses 65 it says “Beside their servants and their maids”. and if we read further down to verse 70 it makes a clear distinction that these servants are Gentiles from the time when Cyrus back in Daniel gave the decree for the Israelites to return to their land and rebuild it.
And those particular servants and handmaids spoken of in Isaiah 14:1-2 at the beginning of this article are these Gentiles here in Ezra 2:65 who cleaved to the house of Israel and helped in rebuilding the temple and walls of Jerusalem. The BHI would try to argue that this is a future event but as we can see through the plain reading of the text this event has already taken place.
Conclusion
This is the deception of the BHI doctrine, they pull a verses out of context and run with it making an erroneous doctrine out of it claiming they will be able to own non-Israelite people as slaves in the kingdom. The BHI is a man made movement which started on 125th Street Harlem, otherwise known as 1West which is in reference to the address where the movement began.
It’s very unfortunate that there are many people who have been deceived into believing that God cares about a persons ethnicity. And if you’re not born in a specific ethnicity then you’re either part of His chosen people or and if not your condemned; this is obviously not the God of the Bible we serve. God is not concerned about what group of people you’re born into. What He does care about is if we’ve placed our faith in the Son of God Jesus Christ.
Next time we’ll take a look at the history of this cult and the different camps which came out of the BHI movement, until then stay in the word of God and be blessed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every nation had a prophet and was the way to worship God?
Muslim argument: ”For every single nation their prophet was the way to worship God (by following his teachings). In the time of Noah, he was the way. In the time of Abraham, he was the way. In the time of Jonah, he was the way. In the time of Moses, he was the way. In the time of Jesus, he was the way. And finally, in the time of Muhammad, this is his dispensation, his teaching is the only way because he is the last Messenger from God Almighty to all mankind.”
Response: Note the false assumption “every single nation their prophet was the way to worship God” nowhere in the Old or New Testament does it state there was a “prophet” in every nation? Prophethood came from Israel not from the other nations.
Muslims believe that each prophet was “the way” in contrast to John 14:6 in which Jesus Christ says: John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. The error of Muslims is they fail to realise that Christ is not saying He is one of the “many ways”, no, He’s saying He’s the Only way. None of the Old Testament prophets claimed to be the way to God. So where do Muslims gather this idea from?
If Muhammad is the last messenger then why it is Jesus is coming back in the future but Muhammad is not? This is evidence that Muhammad is cannot be the “last messenger”. If he was there would not be anyone coming after him. Yet Muslims believe “Isa” (Islamic Jesus) is coming back to destroy the anti-christ which contradicts their belief that Muhammad is the “last messenger”. It’s contradictory to say Jesus is only a man yet according to Islamic sources Jesus is alive with Allah since AD 33 that’s over 2000 years, while Muhammad is dead.
They believe according to Islam Jesus is only a prophet and not God, therefore, they reduce the divinity of Christ to a mere man. While Jesus Christ was indeed a Real Man, He was much more than that He was God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). There are many scriptures which testify that Christ is the Creator of everything, that He existed with God the Father since eternity past; and that He’s alive forevermore. The scriptures also call the Lord Jesus God Almighty, the Father calls Him God and Jesus Himself says He’s God and lastly the prophets also called Him God.
How do Muslims account for the fact that Jesus would be over 2000 years old, do mortal men live that long? We can see how quickly that argument fails when it comes to saying Jesus is only a man. They don’t know what dispensations are, a dispensation is a stewardship in that how God has ordained certain responsibilities for a specific economy. For instance in the time of the tabernacle one of those responsibilities was the sacrifices and how they are to be conducted through the Levitical priesthood for the Israelites to have continued fellowship with the LORD.
Jesus is one of the mightiest prophets?
Muslim argument: “Jesus (peace be upon him) is one of the mightiest prophets and messengers. Here are the proofs: “But when they tried to arrest him (Jesus), they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet” [Matthew 21:46] People around Jesus (peace be upon him) considered him a prophet.”
Response:Christians believe that Jesus Christ occupies more than one office, He’s Prophet, High Priest and King (Messiah). Therefore, citing Matthew 21:46 of Jesus Christ as a prophet doesn’t take away the fact that He’s God. It’s not uncommon for Muslims to remove a verse out of its context in order to prove Christ was not God, but this same verse which follows the preceding verses in Matthew 21 refutes the Muslim argument proving the Christian position. In verse 42 it’s talking about the stone which Israel rejected.
Pointing out that Jesus Christ is a Real Man doesn’t disprove the Christian position (1) Christians believe Jesus is a MAN why do the Muslims ignore the above text in regards to the deity of Christ? They want to except verses which speak about the humanity of Christ while ignoring the deity of Christ. This is called a double standard. (2) Christians believe Jesus is a PROPHET but it doesn’t remove the fact that the scriptures say Jesus Christ created the heaven and earth (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:10-11).
How can Allah be Al-Haqq if he deceives?
Muslim argument: “The truth is crystal clear. I’m confident in my belief. Allah is Al-Haqq. (True one) Good that you’ve learnt a name of Allah. Learn more. You’ll find answers for many questions of Christianity in Islam.”
Response: How can Allah be Al-Haqq if Allah calls himself the greatest of deceivers, someone cannot be called the Truth if they tell lies and dabble in deception.
And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. — S 3:54
The English translations are actually deceptive in the Arabic the word is not “planners” the word in the Arabic is Makr وَمَكَرَ and if you check the Arabic dictionary the following words associated “cunning”, “deceptive”, “scheming”, “guile” and “slyness”. These are the words that describe Allah as being the best of deceivers.
The Lord Jesus Christ is never deceptive because He’s without any sin, therefore, He is The Truth which proves He’s God because only God is the source of all truth.
Pray for Muslims to come to know who Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners, because they are without the One who offers them eternal life. May the Lord Jesus Christ open the eyes of Muslims that they would receive salvation.
The Christadelphians are a non-Christian restorationist group who hold the unbiblical view of unitarianism. They’re no different from Muslims in the sense that they believe God is a solitary one or monad. As oppose to the biblical Christian view that God is complex in His unity as one in being yet three distinct Persons who are of the one being of God.
The straw-man argument Christadelphians use as well as Muslims is that Christians believe in three gods. This cannot be more further from the truth, as Christians only believe in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). The following are actual portions taken from their own website. I’ll provide biblical Christian responses to each segment.
The God of the Bible
“The Christadelphians believe that the God of the Bible is one, the Father alone (1 Corinthians 8:6). God stands alone and unrivaled in the universe, the source of all good and evil (Isaiah 45:5-7). We reject the idea that the devil is one of Gods’ angels that was permitted to rebel in the very heavens (thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven) and now wrestles with God for control of the world. We likewise reject the idea of a God with multiple independent personalities as not being in harmony with the teachings of scripture.”
In the Ketuvim (writings) the Psalmist in prayer to the LORD spoke of God as creating the heavens and earth, that He laid the foundation of the earth. The Psalmist David also says God is immutable which means that He never changes and will remain forever even though the heavens and earth will perish.
The Christadelphians have a problem because they would have to answer for the fact that in Hebrews chapter one, the context is Jesus Christ better than the angels. Hebrews 1 echos Psalm 102 as the Father is speaking of the Son calling Him (Jesus Christ) God and tells us that Jesus Christ created the heavens and earth; and that Christ never changes and will remain forever.
If God is a solitary one as they claim how do they explain that the LORD in Psalms 102 is the one who “laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens [are] the work of thy hands” and then the writer of Hebrews 1 says Jesus Christ “laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:”?
Jesus is a Man, not God!
“We believe that the Bible is quite clear in its presentation that Christ is a man. The Son of God, but certainly not God Himself. The bulk of mainstream Christianity has staked its life on the assertion that Jesus is God. However, this is to be rejected for the following inescapable reasons, and many more:”
1 “God is one. There can only be one true God. It is undeniable that Jesus referred to himself and the Father as separate. To fly in the face of this the most fundamental of Biblical teachings, in any way, is to venture out onto very thin ice.”
We agree there’s only one true God, the issue is they cannot comprehend how the Father and Christ Jesus can be God. They are both of the same essence, the same way if we take two humans the two are obviously distinct. They are two different persons, but does that mean they are not the same? It depends on how you look at it, because they are the same. Both individuals are human to their nature, therefore, they are the same.
The same is true of Jesus Christ, of course Jesus is going to call the Father the only true God because He is; but the Father along with Jesus Christ is the only true God because He’s of the same substance as the Father.
Here’s John 17:3 in Greek the word θεὸν is referencing the Father, the Greek word καὶ conjoins θεὸν with Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν (Jesus Christ) as the one true God μόνον ἀληθινὸν
In Greek which is what the New Testament was written in uses the copulative kai which conjoins the two subjects in the verse. Namely the Father and Jesus Christ as being the only true God. This is why in 1 John the Lord Jesus is called the true God.
2 “Mortality and immortality are mutually exclusive characteristics. God is immortal, and cannot die. Jesus died. If you alter this, all Scripture is inexorably weakened.”
The Christadelphians make a Logical Fallacy claiming because Mortality and immortality are exclusive, hence since Jesus died, therefore, He cannot be God. If this is true then how do they explain how we as humans will die but yet our souls will live on eternally either in heaven or hell?
While they deny those who are not saved will end up in hell, how do they reconcile when Christ said they would go away to everlasting punishment found in Matthew 25.
The context of the above passage is Christ speaking of unfaithful servants, those who showed no compassion for his fellowman. As they failed as being faithful stewards, because they didn’t show any compassion for the needy they didn’t have any compassion for the Lord Himself. Hence they were cast into everlasting punishment.
3 “Jesus always very clearly pointed out his subservience to God; in power, teaching and life itself. To assert their equality is untenable.”
The Lord Jesus took the place of a servant (Philippians 2:7) thereby humbling Himself becoming a man (Philippians 2:8). He came not to be ministered unto but to serve (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) so that He could give Himself as a ransom at the cross of Calvary. God became a Man according to Philippians 2:5-8.
4 “Mortal humans cannot exist in the direct presence of God. As Exodus 33:20 says, no man can see God and live. Therefore, to say Jesus was fully God and fully man violates scripture, since thousands of people saw Jesus.”
It seems that Christadelphians don’t read the Bible, if God was not seen then how do they explain all the people in the Old Testament who saw God?
Abraham sat down and ate food with God in Genesis chapter 18, God appeared to Moses (Exodus 6:2-3), Jacob wrestled God seeing God face to face (Genesis 32:24-30).
The Lord Jesus Christ unveiled His glory on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 16:28—17:13; Luke 9:27–36; 2 Peter 1:16–18 ), Christ called Himself God Almighty (Revelation 1:8), lastly we have the account of one of Christ disciples (Thomas) calling Jesus God, if Jesus is not God this would have been the perfect moment that the Lord Jesus should have said He’s not God.
In the Old Testament God said He would not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 48:11), and then we see in the New Testament the Lord Jesus said He shared glory with God the Father before creation was made (John 17:5).
John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Conclusion
The Christadelphians cult is deceived into thinking that Jesus is only a man, just like Muslims claim. Christians have always believed Jesus Christ is a real Man, but He’s also God because He took unto Himself a human nature; this is called the Hypostatic Union. In addition to the 2 erroneous doctrines they hold to there are more, therefore, they cannot be saved as long as they keep these false teachings. We’ll touch upon those other teachings in a later article, Lord willing.
The Quran claims to be “explained in detail” (6:114; 7:52; 41:3 & 7:174), “a full explanation of the Book” (10:37), “the Book explaining all things” (16:89), “a detailed exposition of all things” (12:111), “the manifest Book (this Quran) that makes things clear” (44:2) “a Book are perfected its Verses moreover, explained in detail” (11:1) and in which “nothing has been neglected” (6:38).
The Quran mentions Allah’s face, hands and shin, but we cannot know what Allah looks like?
Allah’s hands:
“And believe no one unless he follows your religion.” Say: “True guidance is the Guidance of Allah: (Fear ye) Lest a revelation be sent to someone (else) Like unto that which was sent unto you? or that those (Receiving such revelation) should engage you in argument before your Lord?” Say: “All bounties are in THE HAND of Allah: He granteth them to whom He pleaseth: And Allah careth for all, and He knoweth all things.” — S 3:73 (see also, S. 3:26, 5:64, 23:88, 36:71, 83, 39:67, 48:10, 49:1, 57:29, 67:1)
Here in Surah 3:73 all bounties are in the hand of Allah.
(Allah) said: “O Iblis! What prevents thee from prostrating thyself to one whom I have created with MY HANDS? Art thou haughty? Or art thou one of the high (and mighty) ones?” — S 38:75
In Surah 38:75 it’s said that Allah created Adam with his hands, clearly the Quran says Allah has hands. And just to cement the idea that Allah has hands in the hadith of Tirmidhi, Muhammad tells us that Allah touched him with his hand and he felt it.
Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet said: My Lord came to me in the best FORM, whilst I was asleep, and said: O Muhammad, do you know what the angelic assembly is disputing about? I said: I do not! Then Allah placed HIS HAND between my shoulders until I felt Its coolness in my chest and I became aware of what was happening in Heaven and on earth… (Tirmidhi, 43, as cited in Dr. Abdul Khaliq Kazi & Dr. Alan B. Day, trans., Al-Ahadith Al-Qudsiyyah – Divine Narratives [Dar Al Kitab Arabi – USA, 1995], pp. 82-83)
Allah’s Face:
But will abide (for ever) the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour. S. 55:27
The Quran states that Allah has a face but if you ask Muslims what does Allah look like they will say there’s nothing we can compare to him (S 42:11), they would say that the concept of a “face” cannot be applied to Allah because imagining Allah’s face would be out of our ability to do. Therefore, the word face as it relates to Allah is useless. The problem is if the Quran is “a detailed exposition of all things” (12,111) then certainly we should be able to know what Allah looks like but the Quran doesn’t explain what Allah looks like yet it’s “a detailed exposition of all things”.
Allah’s Eyes:
“‘Throw (the child) into the chest, and throw (the chest) into the river: the river will cast him up on the bank, and he will be taken up by one who is an enemy to Me and an enemy to him’: But I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under Mine eye. — S 20:39
Islam teaches that Allah does not enter into his creation, unlike in the Bible we read that God came into the world. Muslims reject this teaching but they have a problem, if the attributes of Allah to be interpreted in a real sense are part of Allah then this would mean that Allah has entered into his creation.
If Allah is all seeing we know this means he sees all in his creation which means his attributes of seeing eyes entered into his creation, the same way his word (the Quran, “Isa” S 4:171) entered into creation.
Allah’s Legs:
The Day that the shin shall be laid bare, and they shall be summoned to bow in adoration, but they shall not be able, — S 68:42
… Then the Almighty will come to them in a shape other than the one which they saw the first time, and He will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ and they will say, ‘You are not our Lord.’ And none will speak: to Him then but the Prophets, and then it will be said to them, ‘Do you know any sign by which you can recognize Him?’ They will say. ‘The Shin,’ and so Allah will then uncover His Shin whereupon every believer will prostrate before Him and there will remain those who used to prostrate before Him just for showing off and for gaining good reputation. … — Sahih al-Bukhari 7439
In the Quran we are told that Allah has legs in Surah 68:42, it says Allah will expose his shin and Muslims will bow down to Allah’s shin in adoration. And according to Sahih al-Bukhari 7439 says Allah will come to the Muslims “in a shape other than the one which they saw the first time” and Allah will say “I am your Lord” the Muslims will respond to Allah saying “You are not our Lord”.
The Muslims won’t even recognise their god at first. They (Muslims) will ask for a sign so that they can recognise him (Allah) and the way they will recognise Allah is by his shin“They will say. ‘The Shin,’ and so Allah will then uncover His Shin whereupon every believer will prostrate before Him”.
Allah’s Sits Down:
And the angels will be on its sides, and eight will, that Day, bear the Throne of thy Lord above them. — S 69:17
Also we’re told that Allah has a Throne which is used by sitting down on. The conclusion is that Allah is composed of parts face, eyes, hands, legs and even sits down. Yet Muslims claim there is none like Allah, but Allah is not doing anything we cannot comprehend. How is it Muslims will say Allah’s hands or face etc. Is nothing that we can imagine in our own minds? This makes the words of the Quran meaningless when it speaks about these concepts, especially when the Quran says it’s “the Book explaining all things”.
The Quran refutes itself in saying it explains all things yet doesn’t explain what Allah’s face, hands, legs or eyes look like or how we should understand them.
Where do Muslims learn to do their five daily prayers?
How do Muslims know to pray 5 times a day as there are no instructions in the Quran which tell Muslims how to preform the 5 daily prayers? How do Muslims know how to perform Wudu (wash)? If Muslims only use the Quran and not the Hadith or Tafsir they won’t know how many times to pray? Therefore, the Quran again exposes itself as not being a book that explains all things in detail.
Wudu is spoken in specific details in the Hadith but not in the Quran, therefore, how can the Quran be a “the Book explaining all things” (16:89)? Muslims need to wake up from the deception called Islam, Muhammad was a false prophet who is dead, but the free gift of salvation is being offered to them. Jesus Christ offers you eternal life, run from the darkness of Islam and come to know the One who is the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Muslims you will not walk in darkness the moment you come to Jesus Christ for salvation.
Recently Muslims in Birmingham UK attacked Mufti Abu Layth another Muslim, they came to his house at night wearing mask as to conceal their identity and proceeded to toss stones through the windows. Screams coming from within the home were of his wife and 2 daughters ages 6 and 9. Who his 2 daughters were traumatized to the extent that they were hysterical and couldn’t sleep because of nightmares.
It was the result of Muhammad Hijab calling for action against Abu Layth in regards to the current fighting happening between Israel and Gaza Palestine. This is the true face of Islam, even Muslims cannot get along with one another to the point that they would target a man’s home and family. Unfortunately, this is what Islam teaches, Muslims are required to believe in the Quran but also the Hadith (the Sunnah of the “prophet”), Tafsir and Sira.
Just to get a little insight as to the horrific teachings of Islam we should look at how Muhammad conducted himself. As Islam is founded upon him. Here are some of Muhammad’s teachings from Islamic sources.
There’s no peace in Islam because they (Muslims) don’t have the Prince of Peace the Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 9:6). In addressing the disciples before His crucifixion the Lord Jesus told them He would give them peace.
Because Islam is without Jesus Christ they (Muslims) will never know peace until they come to Jesus Christ for salvation. As Christians we pray for all men that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and in this crazy time prayers go out to Mufti Abu Layth. May this be a huge awakening that he needs to leave the dark religion of Islam and embrace the Light of Jesus Christ for eternal life, as Christ is the Light of the world.
Muslims are told by their Imam’s that the Quran recited today is the same original Quran from the time of Uthman. Is this true according to the Islamic sources, and if not what does that mean for Islam?
According to the authentic Hadiths (Sahih) from Bukhari there was a war and a Muslim named Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman approached Uthman (the son-in-law to Muhammad). Because the Quran was memorised by men there was concerns that during the war individuals who knew the Quran by memory would be killed, thereby, they would lose portions of the Quran. Hudhaifa was afraid of the differences in the recitation of the Qur’an and said to Uthman “Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur’an) as Jews and the Christians did before”.
This is interesting, the Hadith is saying there were different recitations of the Quran which means different verses and words. Uthman then sought to standardize all of the different readings into 1 Quran.
Uthman then orders his men to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies, afterwards he returns Hafsa’s manuscripts and orders to burn any other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies. This proves that Uthman was trying to destroy other Arabic versions of the Quran which contradicts the Hafs version in order to make 1 Quran.
In this Hadith we have the account of Musa al-Ash’ari sending for “the reciters of Basra”, these were 300 Muslim men. These 300 men were the best among the inhabitants of Basra. Yet they used to recite Surah Bara’at but they forgot this Surah. They also had another Surah Musabbihat which was also forgotten. The Question is where are these Surah’s because they are not in the Quran, the Hadith mentions Bara’at and Musabbihat?
Missing verses of the Quran because of being eaten by sheep
Here in this Hadith we’re told that the were verses referring to stoning and adult breastfeeding 10 times revealed by Muhammad. These verses were in Aisha’s possession under her pillow, these verses are also not found in the Quran because they were eaten by a sheep. Therefore, the claim that the Quran is preserved cannot be true.
Abu Bakr burns the books of Hadith
Aisha the wife of Muhammad narrated in Abu Dhahbi’s “The memorial of the Hadith masters” that Abu Bakr collected 500 Hadith’s of Muhammad then after a night of torment, he asked Aisha to tell him the Hadith she knew and she did and then he gathered them and burned them. Aisha asked him why did you burn them? And he said “I feared that I would die with these words on me and they would be full of his words that I trusted but it would transpire that it was not what he said and I would have relayed them incorrectly”. This narrative is verified by Abu Bakr who has the least narrations of the Hadith of all the companions of the prophet despite him being the companion that was with him the most. Al Nawawi said “Abu Bakr Al Sadeek narrated one hundred and forty-two Hadith, Bukhari and Muslim agreed only on six of them, Bukhari verified eleven on his own and Muslim confirmed one Hadith. The reason for him having so few hadiths despite him being the closest companion of the prophet is because he died before the spread of Hadith and the followers of Islam becoming more concerned with hearing, gathering and preserving them.”
Narrated Aisha: My father gathered the ahadith of the Messenger of Allah, and they totalled five hundred, then he spent his night sleeplessly turning on his sides. I thought that he was upset because of someone’s complaint, or because of some news which he had heard. The next morning, he said to me, `Daughter! Bring me the ahadith in your possession,’ so I brought them to him, and he set them on fire.” Then he said: “It is possible that there should be certain things in it which did not correspond textually with what the Prophet had uttered, so I was worried that I die and these ahadith remain with me. — Reference: p. 237, Vol. 5, of Kanz al-`Ummal Refer also to Ibn Kathir’s book Al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya as well as p. 5, Vol. 1, of al-Dhahabi’s Tadhkirat al-Huffaz
Qur’ānic Manuscripts From Uthman?
We’ll end with a quote from two Islamic scholars Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Dr Tayyar Altıkulaç.
Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: of Turkey is the former Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. (OIC). He’s written numerous books, articles and papers in Turkish, English and Arabic on science, Islamic culture, Turkish culture, relations between the Muslim world and the Western world, and Turkish-Arab relations.
Dr Tayyar Altıkulaç: was born in Devrekani in Kastamonu in 1938.He went to primary school in the district where he was born and finished secondary and high school in Istanbul. He became a hafiz at the age of 9 before finishing primary school. In 1963, he graduated from High Islamic Institute. He taught at Imam Hatip (Religious) High School until 1965. He was a research assistant and lecturerat the High Islamic Institute in Istanbul and Kayseri. In the meantime, he specialized in Arabic Language and Literature at Baghdad University in the 1967-68 academic year. He completed his doctorate in interpretation.
In there book called Al-Mushaf Al-Sharif Attributed To Uthman Bin ‘ Affan, page 35 we have the following quote concerning if the current Quran used world wide by Muslims. The Hafs Quran also known as the 1924 Cairo edition is the same Quran manuscripts from Uthman’s time.
“One of the most important questions of Qur’ānic history is the whereabouts of the Mushafs attributed to Caliph Uthman and whether any of them reached the present day. Unfortunately, we do not have a positive answer to this question …In our view, this situation is one of the greatest weaknesses of the Islamic world throughout history” — Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Dr Tayyar Altıkulaç, Al-Mushaf Al-Sharif Attributed To Uthman Bin ‘ Affan, p. 35
If the scholars are saying they don’t “have a positive answer to this question”. Then the question must be asked, where is the “Mushafs attributed to Caliph Uthman and whether any of them reached the present day”? Any Muslims know the answer?
Muslims claim they know what they’re saying when they try to refute the Godhead (Trinity), but they can’t, I like to challenge Muslims to respond to what’s written here if they are able? A blog called The Quran and Bible Blog the owner of the blog also called “Mr. Q” has put forth this challenge.
Yep, here we go again. Christians throw their hands in the air and say “you just don’t understand!” Hey Trinitarian, can you explain the trinity. Maybe use an analogy?
I’m going to answer this question with the analogy he asked for, let’s see if he’ll be able to refute this. All Christians believe in 1 God (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are the 1 God collectively, fully and completely, the Trinity is found throughout creation.
Analogy: Time is composed of Past, Present, Future all 3 are time yet all 3 (Past, Present, Future) are distinct one from another but all three still remain as time.
It’s very disappointing when Christadelphians, a non-Christian cult visits a Muslim blog in order to refute the Trinity. Here’s a conversation between one of the Christadelphian pages here on WP and the owner of the said blog.
Christadelphians: Please do know and let others be aware that not all Christians do believe in the false human doctrine of the Trinity. quranandbibleblog: That is true, but the vast majority are Trinitarians. Christadelphians: Shamefully yes! mr.heathcliff: what are your arguments against the trinity, thanks Christadelphians: The Trinity is a false human teaching which entered Christianity, bringing division and a chaotic Christendom where many other dogma’s had to be created to have the trinity theory working. God clearly declared Jesus to be His only begotten beloved son, His sent one and authorised one.
It seems Muslims and Christadelphians have become bedfellows, strange that a group who claims to believe in the Bible would agree with Muslims who deny the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice the Christadelphian didn’t gave any biblical references to prove his point, he only gave his opinion. Lord willing, I’ll continue to write more on the Christadelphians cults teachings. If you’d like to read some articles on the erroneous doctrines of the Christadelphians in the meantime feel free to read these older post.
Let’s look at some passages in the Bible and wait for any Muslim to respond.
Trinity In the Old Testament
The Trinity is found in the Old Testament scriptures, in Genesis the very first verse in the Bible says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) the word for God there in Hebrew is Elohim which is a plural word which means Gods. Remember in the beginning I mentioned “All Christians believe in 1 God”, I say this again because Muslims love to use straw-man arguments claiming Christinas believe in 3 gods; when we do not and shows a lack of knowledge and genuineness on their part. From the beginning this verse is telling us that God is complex in His unity with a plurality in the Godhead.
Another classic verse is when God said “Letusmake man in our image, after our likeness:” (Genesis 1:26). Note the words “us” and “our” this suggest a plurality. Again this is used later in Genesis 11:7 in the case of the tower of babel the LORD says “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Again we see the words “let us”, surely if God created communication He can convey the thought that God is complex in His unity.
Genesis chapter 18 says the LORD appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, in this account God shows upp with 2 men and sits down with Abraham even having a meal which Sarah prepares.
Two of the men are sent to Sodom and Gomorrah to witness the lewd abominations they were committing. God planned on judging those cities for their sinful ways. But one of the men stood behind with Abraham which was the LORD Himself, and He prophesied to Abraham that Sarah will give birth to a son (Isaac). Sarah laughs because she knows that they were not able to bear children, especially now that they are old. But the man sitting before Abraham who reveals Himself as the LORD says:
The LORD and Abraham are face to face during this time discussing the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the LORD planned on destroying those cities. Abraham tries to intercede for the cities asking if God would spare Sodom and Gomorrah if any righteous men were found in those cities.
The two men who went ahead to Sodom turned out to be angels, “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing [them] rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;” (Genesis 19:1).
The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to have sex with the two men “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.” (Genesis 19:5) Lot then tells the men of Sodom not to commit this sin and offered his two virgin daughters to the men of Sodom (Genesis 19:6-8).
After the men would not hear the words of Lot, the 2 angles pull Lot back into his home and proceeded to blind the wicked men of Sodom (Genesis 19:9-11). The angels then tell Lot to gather his sons in law and daughters, because God will destroy the city.
The interesting part is how God destroyed the city in verse Genesis 19:24 we read:
Notice there are 2 individuals here called LORD, one was on the earth and the other in heaven. If you read closely it says “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;”
Can Muslims explain how this verse says the LORD rained down fire from the LORD out of heaven? There are other verses which can be brought up just from the Old Testament to prove the plurality in the Godhead, but for now this is sufficient enough evidence to prove Muslims and Christadelphians are in gross error and don’t know who God is.
Trinity In the New Testament
Moving unto verses in the New Testament that proves the Trinity, I draw your attention to a passage found in the synoptic Gospels concerning the baptism of Jesus Christ.
This passage clearly makes a distinction between 3 Persons, we have (1) Jesus in the water, (2) the Spirit of God descending in Luke saying “in a bodily shape”,(3) we have a voice from heaven which is obviously God the Father saying “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. This sounds like the Trinity to me.
A few critical questions need to be asked at this point. Is Jesus talking to Himself saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”? Obviously not because Jesus is in the water and the voice is coming from heaven, unless this was the first instance of “ventriloquism” which the Bible doesn’t teach this and therefore, there’s a clear distinction between Jesus Christ and the voice from heaven (God the Father).
The same question can be asked about the Spirit of God, is the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ? Again Christ is in the water and the Spirit of God is descending (coming down) upon Jesus Christ. That means Jesus is not coming down upon Himself, again we have a clear distinction of 2 Persons.
I’d like to hear how Muslims and Christadelphians would reconcile this passage? The Muslim will most likely say that the Bible is corrupted which is what they say when they don’t have an answer. But in saying this they prove Muhammad is a false prophet because according to the Hadith told Christians to judge by the Gospel, why would Muhammad direct Christians to judge by a book that’s supposedly “corrupted”?
Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. — S 5:47
Muhammad even went as far to say that he believed in the Torah which was revealed by “Allah”.
Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar: A group of Jews came and invited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to Quff. So he visited them in their school. They said: AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them. They placed a cushion for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who sat on it and said: Bring the Torah. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee. He then said: Bring me one who is learned among you. Then a young man was brought. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition of stoning similar to the one transmitted by Malik from Nafi'(No. 4431). — Sunan Abi Dawud 4449 Grade: Hasan (Al-Albani)
Non-Christian cults which are bed fellows with Muslims
It just goes to show that the enemies of Christ will become partners just to try to go against what Christians believe. We have Muslims jumping in bed with the Christadelphian cult, Jews and anyone else to form a coalition against Christians. But that’s ok, truth stands and prevails in the face of falsehood. Christians only need to stand on what Christ has done for us, and His death burial and resurrection has stood steadfast since the first century.
The resurrection of Christ has been under attack ever since the beginning when the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, the apostles had to endure harshness from unbelievers when preaching Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23), and we as believers today have to endure the same. May we continue to preach Christ to the lost, and keep Muslims and Christadelphians as well as all those who haven’t been saved.
If you’re familiar with this group you’ll know that they claim to be the “true Hebrew Israelites”, perhaps you’ve seen them on the street corner yelling out random Bible verses mostly from the Old Testament. And if you listen closely at some point you’ll hear verses that aren’t so familiar, that’s because they are reading verses from the Apocrypha. At his point you might be wondering what is the Apocrypha?
Unfortunately, most Christians are unaware of the teachings from this cult because they aren’t interested in learning on how to defend their faith from these groups, and sadly there are people falling victim to this racist cult which is only concerned with the colour of their skin. It’s my intention to bring some light to the body of Christ. Black Hebrew Israelites use the books of the Apocrypha in conjunction with the Bible to prove that Blacks are the “real Jews”. They are especially well versed when it comes to the Old Testament scriptures and deceive people into thinking they are Israelites. The Lord Jesus Christ said:
The Apocrypha is comprised of the following books: 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees.
The word “Apocrypha” means “hidden, concealed, obscure” and the Black Hebrew Israelites believe these books are on the same level of inspired scripture, even though these books are not inspired scripture and riddled with contradicting doctrines such as necromancy, divination, witchcraft and sorcery. Clearly the Bible is against such teachings found in (Leviticus 19:31; 1 Samuel 28:10-20; Isaiah 8:19; Jeremiah 27:9; Malachi 3:5; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15).
Let’s look at some of the teachings from the Apocrypha and how that contradicts the Word of God.
In Tobit we have a story which takes place in Ninevah, Tobit is wanted by the ruling authorities because of burying Jewish bodies (Tobit 1:17-19). Tobias (Tobit’s son) is to be married to a young woman named Sara. Tobit becomes blind from bird feces falling into his eyes (Tobit 2:10). Then an angel by the name of Raphael helps Tobit to concoct a magic spell to help heal his father’s eyes, as well as drive away a devil from his soon to be bride Sara.
Every child of God recognises that magic is an abomination to Yahweh and should not be practiced. In the OT God tells the nation of Israel in the book of Leviticus “Regard not them that have familiar spirits” if the children of Israel did they would “be defiled by them” (Leviticus 19:31). In the book of 2 Kings we have the account of Hezekiah’s son Manasseh king who did “evil in the sight of the LORD”, he brought back the idolatress high places of worship which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. It says that he “wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.” (2 Kings 21:6).
The book of 2 Maccabees is a historical account the first book covers the Maccabean Revolt the book is dated to 100 BC. A Jewish elder by the name of Mattathias leads a campaign against Antiochus Epiphanes IV. The problem with this book is that it promotes prayers for the dead, this teaching meshes with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church promoting the concept of purgatory.
A teaching which is alien to scripture, additionally reading the verse again we see that 2 Maccabees 12:46 also teaches a person who is dead can be loosed from sins. The Bible never tells us that we can pray away someone’s sins, in-fact we see the opposite found in the book of Hebrews.
Once a person dies they are subjected to judgement, its this writers hope that the individual has Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Otherwise they will face God not as their Saviour but as their judge at the Great White Throne found in the book of Revelation.
The Apocrypha gives the false notion that a person can change their standing before God after death, this simply is not the case and therefore we must reject this as the word of God.
Views of the body and soul from a Neoplatonism perspective
The Wisdom of Solomon 8:19-20 “As a child I was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to my lot; or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body”
Definition of Neoplatonism: Platonism modified in later antiquity to accord with Aristotelian, post-Aristotelian, and eastern conceptions that conceives of the world as an emanation from an ultimate indivisible being with whom the soul is capable of being reunited in trance or ecstasy.
The view found in The Wisdom of Solomon is that the soul preexisted before before the body came into existence. This cannot be true because our souls had a beginning we are not eternal, only after the soul was created will it live on forever in either of one of two places, heaven or hell.
The thought of a preexistent soul is a foreign concept neither found in the Old Testament or the New. When God created Adam He formed him out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils making him a living soul (Genesis 2:7). It was at that time that man became a living soul and not before, we are not an “emanation” from God as Neoplatonism teaches.
In Tobit these two particular verses of giving alms teach a works based salvation by giving alms “Because that alms do deliver from death” (Tobit 4:10). This is in clear contradiction to what we know from the Scriptures.
The Bible clearly teaches that we are powerless to save ourselves from death or to purge away our sins. In Romans we’re told that the law cannot save us but shows us that we’re sinners.
It’s only through the sinless Lamb of God that we can have our sins purged and we delivered from death through the second birth. This is what the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:1-8. John the Baptist when he saw Christ exclaimed that it was through Him sins would be put away.
As shown the Black Hebrew Israelites not only twist the scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16) but they also incorporate erroneous books into their teaching and claim the Apocrypha is the word of God. This can’t be true as we know there are no contradictions in the Bible, therefore, we must reject the teachings of the Apocrypha and Black Hebrew Israelites.
We will continue to dive into other teachings from the different camps of the Black Hebrew Israelites, Lord willing, as their doctrines change from camp to camp. And it’s not my intention to use any straw-man arguments when identifying certain teachings, as I acknowledge that not all Black Hebrew Israelites have the same beliefs.
1a: inference formed without proof or sufficient evidence b: a conclusion deduced by surmise or guessworkThe criminal’s motive remains a matter of conjecture. c: a proposition (as in mathematics) before it has been proved or disproved 2 obsolete a: interpretation of omens b: SUPPOSITION
Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was not crucified according to the Quran, we read in Surah 4:157 which says:
Muslims claim that Allah didn’t allow Jesus to be crucified but saved him before he was crucified and made someone else look like Jesus and that person was crucified instead. This raises serious questions, (1) according to the Tafsir (commentaries) we have different opinions about what happened.
al-Jalalayn: And for their saying boastfully ‘We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary the Messenger of God’ as they claim in other words for all of these reasons We have punished them. God exalted be He says in repudiating their claim to have killed him And yet they did not slay him nor did they crucify him but he the one slain and crucified who was an associate of theirs the Jews was given the resemblance of Jesus.
Here we have al-Jalalayn claiming the Jews said “We slew the Messiah” how can this be when the Jews in the time of Jesus until today don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah yet they are calling him the Messiah? He also says they didn’t crucify him but another person was crucified who was an associate. If Allah allowed an innocent person to die this would make Allah unjust and a murderer, in addition Allah was also a deceiver as he made another person to resemble Jesus and that person was killed. This makes Allah a liar.
Ibn ‘Abbâs: (And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger) Allah destroyed their man Tatianos. (They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them) Allah made Tatianos look like Jesus and so they killed him instead of him; (and lo! those who disagree concerning it) concerning his killing (are in doubt thereof) in doubt about his killing; (they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture) not even conjecture; (they slew him not for certain) i.e. certainly they did not kill him,
Here we have Ibn ‘Abbâs saying the Quran says they killed the Messiah, he even goes as far to name the individual who was killed a follower of Jesus called Tatianos. There’s no one in the Bible who goes by this name so where are they getting this information from? This once again brings Allah’s morals into question as an innocent man named Tatianos was killed and not Jesus, thereby, Allah deceived people into believing something false in which he would have created Christianity because we believe Jesus Christ was crucified.
Al Qushairi: It is said that God caused the one who slandered [Jesus] to resemble him and he was killed and crucified in his place. … It is [also] said that Jesus said “Whoever agrees to have my resemblance cast upon him so that he is killed in place of me will have the garden” and one of his companions agreed.
Here we have a blasphemous statement, the commentator Al Qushairi comments that “God” made someone who slandered Jesus to be killed, but also that Jesus said whoever has this done to him will have the garden? One can come to the conclusion the “garden” means paradise. So not only did was this man killed because he slandered Jesus which would be a sin, also is given paradise because he was killed in the place of Jesus? So Allah rewards people for committing sin according to this tafsir.
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi: This verse is explicit on the point that the Prophet Jesus Christ was rescued from crucifixion and that the Christians and the Jews are both wrong in believing that he died on the cross. A comparative study of the Qur’an and the Bible shows that most probably it was Jesus himself who stood his trial in the court of Pilate, who sentenced him to death, but they could not kill or crucify him, for Allah raised him to Himself. … “Those who have differed”: the Christians. They do not agree in their versions of crucifixion. The very fact that they offer so many different accounts of the matter is by itself a proof that they possess no definite knowledge of it and are, therefore, in doubt about it. One version is that the person who was crucified was not Jesus but someone who bore his likeness, whom the Jews and the Romans had disgracefully put on the cross, while Jesus was standing nearby and laughing at their folly. Another version is that the one who was nailed to the cross was Jesus, but he did not die on the cross and was alive when he was taken down from it. Some others say that he died on the cross but came to life afterwards and met his disciples more than ten times and talked to them. Still others say that death due to crucifixion occurred on the physical body of Jesus and he was buried but the Divine Spirit within him was raised. There are still others who say that after his death Jesus came to life with his body and was raised with his body. Obviously, if the Christians had any knowledge of the truth, they would not have given so many different versions of it.
Here we have Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi claiming that Jews and Christians don’t agree about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Both Jews and Christians affirm that Jesus was crucified. All Christians believe Jesus Christ was the one on the cross, he died and was buried in a sepulchre and rose from the dead physically in the same body after 3 days.
Shabir Ally: You will notice in some of my recent interfaith dialogues that I have suggested the scenario in which Jesus was taken down alive from the cross and assumed into heaven from the tomb–a scenario which my dialogue participants seem hard-pressed to deconstruct.
Muslims even try to claim that Jesus was taken down from the cross alive, this is called the swoon theory, they make a huge mistake in claiming this. They forget that Jesus was suffered a enormous scourging.
Mark 10:33-34 [Saying], Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
The Romans also plunged a spear into His side and blood and water came out. This is recorded in the book of John.
John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
The Jews agree that Jesus was crucified on the Jews for Judaism site we read “How would the Jewish authorities have treated Jesus’ corpse?” They said in response to this question “To bury the body of a crucified individual (or anyone else) was a matter of obeying God’s commandments. Joseph of Arimathaea (or whatever his name) was probably the Sanhedrin burial agent whose task it was to take care of the crucified once they had died. The approach of the Sabbath and the concern that a corpse not be left hanging after sunset (Deuteronomy 21:23) added to Joseph’s concern to get the body of Jesus (and the 5 two victims) buried before sunset. Perhaps there was a Roman concession to local religious custom concerning a corpse hanging overnight, especially at the onset of the Sabbath or a festival. Joseph complied with the Torah’s requirement even though he may have had no personal reason to honor the crucified individual. One may assume that if it is true that two other individuals were crucified along with Jesus and died that same day that Joseph also asked for their bodies and buried them as well.”
The Jews don’t deny that Christ was crucified, they believe he was killed; they only reject Jesus as their Messiah. Therefore, going back to out definition of conjecture which means according to the definition “inference formed without proof or sufficient evidence”. The Muslims are the ones who are confused (conjecture) as to if Jesus was crucified, who was the one killed was it Tatianos or someone else, and why would the Jews call Jesus the Messiah when they clearly teach otherwise? This proves the Quran is a false book.
Lastly, we have surmounting evidence outside of the Biblical narrative confirming the crucifixion of Christ for those who are not sympathetic to the Christian faith. Those would include:
Quotes proving the crucifixion of Jesus as historical fact
(1) Tacitus (Jewish historian) written c.116 C.E The founder of this name, Christ had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate. (2) Gerd Ludemann (atheist) Jesus’ death as a consequence of crucifixion is indisputable. (3) Marcus Borg The most certain fact about the historical Jesus is his execution as a political rebel. (4) Pinchas Lapide (a Jewish scholar) Jesus’ death by crucifixion is “historically certain.” (5) Paula Fredriksen (another Jew) The single most solid fact about Jesus’ life is his death: he was executed by the Roman prefect Pilate, on or around Passover, in the manner Rome reserved for political insurrections, namely crucifixion.
The biggest one is by the Muslims favorite New Testament scholar who they like to use his material in attacking the Bible, Bart Erhman on the crucifixion of Jesus says:
Whatsoever Things Are True 