My ethnic background is English-Native
American, Irish and German. I was what they called a "WASP"
(white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant). My family moved to Texas
in 1949 while
I was still in grade school, so my accent changed from
"Yankee" to "Texan" real quick. We
learned how to say "Ya'll" instead of "youse
guys" and "Howz ever thaang?"
instead of "Waz up?" We also learned how to
eat "Corn bread 'n bains" instead of
"Johnny cakes and beans."
I was born in
Ohio, raised and educated in Texas and was a successful
marketing entrepreneur and preacher of Christianity. I
grew up in a religious home. My parents and their relatives
were all 'good Christians.' Basically that means that
you never drink alcohol, except on very special occasions
and never gamble expect Bingo at the church. Religion
was a real part of my life. I believed very much in God
and the Bible as His Word. While other children were playing
'school' and 'cops and robbers' I would sometimes play
the 'Preacher.' I can still remember my first sermon,
standing on the ground in Doug Hideman's backyard: "We
must learn the Way of God! And then stay on that Way."
(That's all I said. I couldn't think of anything else)
My
whole family on both my mother's and father's sides were
very active members of the same
denomination of Protestant Christianity. We all loved
to go to church on Sunday mornings for Sunday school and
sermon (well maybe we didn't all love the long sermons).
Then of course, special activities and holidays such as
Easter, Christmas, Halloween and parties were always a
part of our lives in my early years. Our church was originally
called only "Christian Church." It wasn't until
I turned 10 or 12 years old that the church 'split' into
two different groups that we started calling ourselves
"Disciples of Christ."
My
father was an ordained minister and also very active in
church work, as a Sunday school minister and fund raiser
for Christian schools. He was the 'expert' in the Bible
and its translations. It was through my father that I
came to know about the various versions, translations
and editions of the Bible as well as the introduction
of pagan worship to Christianity about the time of the
Emperor Constantine (325 C.E.). He, like many preachers
would answer the question: "Did God actually write
the Bible?" by saying: "The Bible is the Inspired
Word of Man FROM GOD." Basically, it means that humans
(inspired humans, but humans just the same) wrote the
Bible. That quickly explains the errors, mistakes, deletions
and additions which have crept in and fell out over the
years. He would add: "But it is still the Word of
God, as inspired to man."
God
was always on my mind. I was 'baptized' into the 'Spirit'
at age 12 and surprised even the minister (an ex-Jew who
accepted Jesus) by my seriousness and intent on being
a 'full real follower of Christ." I would think about
Him and what He wanted us to do and why He created us
in the first place, very often. Many times I would be
caught 'day dreaming' about God when I was supposed to
be paying attention to other things, like watching the
pots boil over on the stove or not listen to the teachers
at school. Sometimes I would rest my head on my arms on
the top of my desk and try to imagine: "What will
happen when we die?" and "What will Heaven be
like?" or "Can we ever see God's angels or the
devil?"
My
mind was frequently preoccupied with these types of thoughts
as a child. But then as with most youth, I became distracted
from my pursuit and began to be influenced by my peers.
Other children would make fun of me if I talked about
these questions and thoughts, so it seemed like a good
idea to keep it to myself. No problem. I like to be alone
with my thoughts of God anyway.
After
growing up and owning many business, I realized that I
did not want to be a 'preacher.' I was too afraid that
I might be a hypocrite or call people to something that
I myself didn't truly understand. After all, I had 'accepted
the Lord' and considered myself a true Christian, but
at the same time I could not resolve the idea of God being
One and at the same time He is 'Three.' And if He is the
'Father', how could He also be the 'Son?' And then what
about the 'Holy Ghost?' (later they changed that to 'Spirit').
But my big question was always the same: "How does
three equal one?"
Over
the years I had tried to 'find' God in many different
ways. I checked out Buddhism, Hinduism, metaphysics, Taoism,
different forms of Christianity and Judaism. The one most
attractive to me was a combination of Gnosticism
(Christian mysticism) and Cabalism (Jewish mysticism)
and metaphysics. This actually is a form of pantheism
(God being throughout His creation) and is similar to
some of the 'Sufi' mystics of today. But this concept
in its entirety repulsed me because I did not want to
imagine myself as being a 'part of God.'
God
is Pure! God is Perfect! God is All Knowing and All Aware
of all things! So, how can I come along and say things
like I was hearing from the other preachers: "In
a way, we are all gods." Read the Bible:
"You are gods, sons of the Most High,
all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and
fall like any prince." (quoted from the Old Testament;
Psalms [82:6]) & "I said, you are gods."
(New Testament John 10:34)
The
rationalization which comes about in the books attributed
to the Apostle Saul (changed his name to Paul), are full
of statements which basically cancel the Torah or Law
of the Old Testament. He makes it a matter of how you
'understand' something that makes it 'permissible' or
'forbidden.' As an example in the English Revised Standard
Version which I have carried with me since 1953, it says
in Paul's letter to the Romans:
"I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that
nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean
for any one who thinks it unclean."
[Rom 14:14]
And again, in the same letter:
"So do not let what is good to you be spoken
of as evil. For the kingdom of God does not mean food
and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit."
[Rom 14:16]
By
these types of statements, Paul pretty much destroys the
entire Old Testament Commandments. Yet at the same time,
in the same English version of the Bible in the first
book of the New Testament, we are told that Jesus preached
a message which was exactly the opposite of St. Paul:
"Think not that I have come to abolish the law
and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but
to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven
and earth shall pass away, not an iota, not a dot,
will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments
and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom
of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you,
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes
and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
[Mt. 5:17-20]
So
according the St. Paul's own testimony in his letter to
the new Roman Christians, he is relaxing not just the
least of these commandments, but basically all of these
commandments. And he justifies everything with his rationalization
that if you don't think it's bad, then it's not!
I
just felt that something was wrong in this message and
decided to try to uphold the Commandments according to
the Old Testament as much as I could. That would mean:
No Pork; circumcision; no sex outside of marriage; no
adultery; worship on Saturday (not Sunday) and most important
of all: No worship of anything which is in the creation.
This is in direct line with the verse which says:
"You shall have no other gods before (besides)
me. You shall not make yourself a graven image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth; you shall not bow down to them
or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate
me, but showing steadfast love to thousands who love
me and keep my commandments."
[Ex 20:3-6]
It
seemed reasonable to me, that there should only be One
God. He should be All in Charge and without any partners.
Reason also would demand that only He should be given
any worship because He Alone deserves it. And as God,
He should be the One to set the rules and give the orders.
Then it would be clear who really loved Him and who was
following His Commandments.
I
had tried not to deal with these issues for many years.
But now I was getting close to fifty years old and needed
to do something for the Lord. After all, had done everything
for me. So, it was time for me to get serious about my
religion and make some head way for the Lord. I decided
to join in with some of my friends who were evangelists
and preachers who preached in various parts of the country
and even in Mexico. We traveled together and praised the
Lord together and shared in 'the spirit' and went where
the 'spirit lead us.' One of them use to carry a huge
cross on his shoulders and drag it down the highway and
give out little 'mini-Bibles' to those who cared to stop
and visit. It was enjoyable to go to those who had given
up hope or had no money or jobs and give them food, money,
assistance and at the same time call them to the message
of Christianity. I took my Bible everywhere and was very
fast to whip it out and begin to 'preach the message.'
I
was 'born again.' I needed to 'be in the light of Christ.'
I needed to share the 'message.' There was only one
problem:
"What
is the message?"
Oh
sure, I know what some of the 'born again's are saying
as they read this:
"The message of salvation of Jesus Christ!"
- "He died for your sins!" - "He paid the
price of redemption." - "He is the Risen Son
of God!" - "Jesus is LORD!"
Right.
- I
got that.
I
preached that message myself and thought I understood
it as well as anyone else did. The problem is that one
time I heard another preacher say: "Don't leave
your brain in the parking lot with your car."
Then it hit me to start thinking about the very serious
problems and real facts about
my religion. Then came:
THE
QUESTIONS NOBODY WANTS TO ANSWER -
-
What
about the Bible? Who actually wrote it?
-
What
was the original language of the Bible? (Hebrew?
Aramaic? Koine Greek?)
NOTE:
- The
Bible was never in English during the time
of any prophet (not even Muhammad) - because English
did not exist until after 1066 AD!
-
Does the Bible exist in the original
form anywhere on earth? (No)
-
Why
does the
Catholic Bible has seven (7) more books than
the Protestant Bible?
-
Why
do these two Bibles have different versions of
the same books?
-
Why
are there so many mistakes and errors are from the
very first verse right up to the very last verse?
-
Why do 'Born Again Christians' teach concepts that
are not from the Bible?
-
There
is no word "Trinity" in the Bible in
any version of any language
-
The
oldest forms of Christianity do not support the 'born
again' beliefs
-
Jesus
of the English Bible complains about the 'crucifixion'
("Eli! Eli! Lama sabachthani? - My
God! My God! Why have You forsaken me?")
[Mk 15:34]
-
How
can Jesus be the "Only Begotten Son"
of John 3:16? When in Psalms 2:7 David is God's "Begotten
Son?"
-
Would
a 'Just' God, a 'Fair' God, a 'Loving' God -- punish
Jesus for the sins of the people that he called
to follow him?
-
What
happens to people who died before Jesus came?
-
What
happens to those who never hear this message?
-
What
about innocent children who die although their parents
are not Christian?
-
Didn't
God create Adam from dirt? -- So, why does he need
Mary to make Jesus?
-
And what about God?
- How
can God create Himself?
- How
can God be a man?
- How
can a man be a God?
- How
can God have a son?
- The
Bible says "Seth (is) the son of Adam"
and that"Adam is the son of God."
[Lk 3:36]
- Can't
God just forgive us and not have to kill Jesus?
- And
what about Jesus?
- Jesus
did not even carry the cross -- Simon
Cyre'ne, a passerby did! [Mk 15:21]
- Jesus
of the Bible was NOT on the cross for longer
than six (6) hours -- NOT three days -- (from
the 3rd to the 9th hour) [Mk 15:25 & 15:33]
- Jesus
of the Bible did not spend three days and nights
in the tomb -- Friday night - until Sunday
before dawn -- is not 3 days and nights!
- Jesus
DID NOT claim to be God - or even equal to
God!
My
friend with the huge cross became tired of trying to answer
all of my questions and in desperation one day, he told
me to read the story of Abraham in Genesis in the Old
Testament. Especially the part of sacrificing his son
for the sake of God. He seemed to feel that this was going
to explain the whole concept of sacrifice and obedience
to God.
I
read it.
But instead of convincing me that this was the meaning
of punishing the good so the bad do not have to suffer,
I saw a totally different message here.
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son on the alter
for the sake of Almighty God, if that was what God wanted
from him. But God did not really want to take the life
of an innocent boy for sins that Abraham committed. That
was not even the story here. And as far as replacing his
son with the ram for sacrifice, this also does not match
the story of Jesus on the cross.
Stop.
Think.
Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son to test
the loyalty of Abraham. He did not withhold his son from
God, so God's angels ordered him to offer a ram in place
of his son. God was pleased with his total submission
and as a result, God Blessed him and his offspring.
[Gen. 22:9-18]
Now
think about the New Testament story of 'salvation.'
Jesus asked God NOT to put him through this ordeal.
"Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup
from me; nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done."
[Luke 22:42]
Notice in the next verse, an angel from heaven also appears
to Jesus to "strengthen him."
Abraham's angel comes to offer a ram as a sacrifice
instead of the son.
The next verse [22:44] Jesus is in AGONY as he prays "more
earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood
falling down upon the ground."
Then I looked to the account of the story in the Book
of Mark [14:32-39].
Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane and his soul is
"very sorrowful, even to death." And
"... going a little farther, he fell on the ground
prayer that, if it were possible, the hour might pass
from him." Meaning that somehow when the
time came for the event to take place he could escape
it. This is NOT the submissive attitude of Abraham.
Next
I noticed in verse 36, Jesus says: "Abba, Father,
all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from
me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt."
And then he goes to his disciples and wakes them up and
then returns to pray "... saying the same words."
This
whole concept was so totally different than the one from
Genesis talking about Abraham and his son.
I
asked questions and delved into 'those kind of stories'
the more I would like to facilitate the truth. Many strange
things began to happen. Very strange.
Things
began to happen in my life. Things that would change many
concepts and beliefs that I had been burdened with for
many years. Solutions and answers started coming in very
strange and wonder ways.
First,
my father started doing business with a man from Egypt.
After introducing me to him, my father noticed right away
that I was trying to convert the man to Christianity and
asked me not to do so in a rude manner. I heard the man
say he was ready to come to my religion if my religion
was better than his religion. But there was a condition,
he said he wanted proof. I told him religion is not about
proof. It is about faith. He then said something that
really made me think. He told me in his religion there
was both faith and proof. Strange, I thought. How could
there be any proof about God or religion?
Next,
I was to meet a Catholic priest who would enlighten us
all on the true history of the church and what was really
going on in the cathedrals and the Vatican. His name was
Father Peter Jacobs. His experiences throughout Central
and South America, Mexico and the United States would
prove to be very enlightening. But most of all was his
deep understanding of the Bible and the scrolls. He brought
to the table many interesting and amazing facts about
Christianity and the organized religion of Catholicism.
Both
the priest and the Muslim from Egypt came to live with
us in our home in the country near Dallas, Texas. Then
things really started getting strange.
I
would love to share the details of this story of how so
many preachers and priests are coming to Islam.
Next
Part: "Priests & Preachers Enter Islam"
- How It Happened - [Part
2]