Posted on 10/30/2011 6:49:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Islam or Islamist? That is the question. Is the term “Islamist” a politically incorrect fabrication to dodge the inconvenient truth that Islam itself is inherently and inevitably chauvinistic and totalitarian? Or is it a necessary distinction to draw: denominating supremacist Muslims striving to impose on societies a classical, rigid construction of Islamic law, distinguishing them from authentic Muslim moderates who elevate reason, embrace pluralism, and take sharia as spiritual guidance rather than the mandatory law for civil society?
I think we have to separate Islamists from Islam. My friend Robert Spencer disagrees. As NRO readers may know from my reviews of some of Robert’s books and my frequent references to his invaluable work at Jihad Watch, I hold him in high esteem. On this question, however, he is mistaken. And because how we answer the “Islam or Islamist?” question critically affects how we respond to the profound threat posed by supremacist Muslims, we must answer it correctly.
A little background is in order. My column last weekend was a defense of Robert, and of David Horowitz, against the “Islamophobia” charges recently leveled at them by the Center for American Progress. There, I pointed out that “I regularly use the term ‘Islamist’ rather than ‘Islam’ to draw a distinction between the ideology of the enemy and Islam as it is practiced by most American Muslims, and by millions of Muslims throughout the world.” I added that Messrs. Spencer and Horowitz do likewise — an assertion I made because, among other reasons, I was sure I’d seen the term “Islamist” or “Islamism” in the September 30 essay they jointly published here on NRO. In fact, it is in the title of that essay, “Rational Fear of Islamism” — but titles are often the work of editors, not authors.
As recounted in the Corner earlier this week, Robert e-mailed me after the column appeared to offer this correction: He does not use the term “Islamist.” In his view, the “Islam/Islamism distinction is an artificial one imposed by the West, with no grounding in Islamic history, theology, or law.” Coincidentally, it turned out that while I was busy writing my column for that weekend, Robert was penning “Islam and Islamists.” In it, he expanded on this very argument. To use the term “Islamist,” he asserts, is to incorrectly imply “that Islam itself, in its authentic form, has no requisite political aspect, and no incompatibility with Western values or democratic government.”
My seminal disagreement is with Robert’s premise that there is and can be but a single authentic form of Islam. As readers of The Grand Jihad know, I struggled mightily with the “Islam or Islamist” question. It is the subject of my book’s second chapter, which asks whether our challenge is appropriately labeled “Islamism” or whether that label is a cop out, side-stepping the grim reality that Islam itself is and will always be the West’s problem.
Obviously, the West will never arrive at a successful defensive strategy unless we correctly identify the threat. So, should we focus our attention on those Muslims for whom imposition of sharia — Islam’s supremacist politico-legal system — is an inseparable part of their ideology? Or, in the alternative, should we come to the reluctant conclusion that this mandate to impose classical sharia, with its laws governing all aspects of life, simply is Islam? As I concluded in the book, there are too many non-supremacist Muslims to write off Islam; our target must be the supremacists. “Islamist” is a label suitable to the essential task of distinguishing our Muslim enemies from our Muslim allies — declared and potential.
Lest you think I’ve secretly hit the Saudi-funding jackpot, there is no lushly endowed sinecure at Georgetown or Harvard in my future. My conclusion that our focus has to be Islamism, rather than Islam, is fraught with skepticism. Yes, there are hundreds of millions of moderate Muslim people; but have they really come up with a coherent Islamic ideology that separates mosque and state? Not a foot-stomping claim that Islam must yield to modern sensibilities, but an argument based in Islamic doctrine itself? And even if they have developed such a theory, or at least could conceivably do so in the future, will it be compelling enough to compete with, nullify, and marginalize supremacist, political Islam — which, however much this dismays us, has the advantage of reliance on clear scriptural commands?
Without question, Robert is correct that the political and supremacist aspects of Islamic doctrine, which flesh out the ideology many of us call “Islamist,” trace their origins to Mohammed. As he further observes, they are taught by the classic schools of Islamic jurisprudence, which undoubtedly explains their power and endurance for over a millennium.
Nevertheless, while many millions of Muslims adhere to these doctrinal components, it is also true that many millions of Muslims do not. Most of the latter simply ignore them, but others labor to develop theories aimed at countering and discrediting political, supremacist Islam. This is seen in the United States, for example, in the work of Zuhdi Jasser and the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. At Princeton University’s James Madison Program, Australian academic Abdullah Saeed recently delivered a lecture arguing that resort to the Koran and episodes in the life of Mohammed can eventually undermine the classical rendering of sharia. (The lecture has been published in First Things, under the title, “The Islamic Case for Religious Liberty.”) On the international stage, the LibForAll Foundation has just released an English translation of The Illusion of the Islamic State, a compendium edited by the late Islamic scholar Abdurrahman Wahid. Once the president of democratic Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country by population, the influential Wahid also led Nadlahtul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Muslim organization, with over 40 million members. NU and other Indonesian moderates are clashing directly with the Muslim Brotherhood, arguing that Islamic scripture does not require the establishment of a caliphate or the imposition of sharia jurisprudence (i.e., fiqh) as governing law. Sharia, they contend, is a matter of private conscience.
I am very confident that Robert is correct about classical Islam. I’ll go further: When I read these competing works, I come away less than convinced. Sometimes it feels like I’m back at the Blind Sheikh trial, looking in vain for the scholar who proves that the emir of jihad has it all wrong: Authoritative Islamic scripture and recognized canons of fiqh do not really endorse the terrorizing of unbelievers, subjugation of women, and killing of apostates and homosexuals, and that all those well-meaning people who say the Blind Sheikh is lying about Islam — perverting it, hijacking it — have been right all along. Alas, you never find that scholar. Parsed closely, the negative critiques against Islamists accuse them of being “too literal,” of lacking nuance, or not appreciating that the horrific provisions of scripture need to be “contextualized” — understood as applicable to their time and place, of little or no relevance in today’s very different world. Such critiques cede a lot of ground — too much for my comfort level. I want to believe these arguments will be enough someday to refute the supremacist, political Islam that has been endorsed for centuries by renowned Islamic scholars — the Islam that has been shrewdly developed as a practical political program for decades by the Muslim Brotherhood. But I am doubtful.
Still, it is presumptuous to imply that Muslims who don’t adhere to classical Islam are not really following Islam. In the aforementioned “Islam and Islamists,” Robert insists that Islam is inherently and necessarily political, and that its political program has always been the “union of religion and the state.” The denial that this is and must be so, he contends, is “the wishful thinking of Western analysts who do not wish to face the implications of the fact that these ideas represent mainstream Islamic thinking.” I think that is wrong, and I say this as someone who has been about as adamant as one can be that we must face the implications of the fact that Islamism is a mainstream interpretation of Islam — in many places, the mainstream interpretation.
To be sure, there is a good deal of wishful thinking going on. As Robert says, too many Western analysts turn a blind eye to the palpable nexus between Islamic doctrine and supremacist, political Islam. But to say a set of ideas represents “mainstream” thinking is not the same as saying it is the only conceivable way of understanding a doctrine.
To take a fairly obvious example, the U.S. Constitution is a social compact in a single document — its four corners making it infinitely more easily knowable than Islamic doctrine, which comes to us from a variety of different sources (the Koran, hadiths, biographies of Mohammed, etc.). Yet, there are several different schools of constitutional interpretation, and a few of them (e.g., originalism and the “organic Constitution”) have enough of a following to be called “mainstream” even though they are quite different from — you might even say diametrically opposed to — one another.
While Robert is correct to point out that the classic schools of Sunni and Shiite jurisprudence promote supremacist, political Islam, that does not mean other understandings do not exist and cannot be developed. As noted above, Nadlahtul Ulama has tens of millions of members and pointedly rejects supremacist, political Islam. Whether one finds NU’s theology persuasive is beside the point. These people are Muslims, and they sincerely believe Islam does not require a political dimension — indeed, they say politics disserves the spirituality they see as Islam’s core. I don’t believe it is our place to tell them they are wrong.
This is steeply uphill. The classical schools are the most influential, and their authoritarian sharia has a built-in fortification: It holds both that departures from consensus constitute apostasy and that apostasy is a capital offense — with the death penalty having been meted out enough times, with enough Islamic approbation, to put reformers and their followers on notice that their work is very risky indeed. Still, modification happens, and has happened, all the time with all manner of doctrines. Can it really be that Islam is the only doctrine in the history of the world that is immune from even the possibility of alteration and evolution? There is nothing I am more skeptical of than that proposition.
Robert coined the marvelous phrase “stealth jihad.” Well, the reason the Muslim Brotherhood must be stealthy in conducting its sharia campaign in the West is its awareness that there would be widespread rejection, including by Muslims, if it were completely open about its supremacist designs. Even in Islamic countries, sharia regimes often back down when Islamic law’s most noxious features surface. Afghanistan quietly reversed course when the West expressed outrage over its efforts to put two apostates to death. The Iranians are still threatening to stone a woman for alleged fornication, but they haven’t done it yet — public opinion has brushed them back. When King Abdullah was embarrassed several weeks ago by the revelation that a woman had been sentenced to scourging for driving a car, the sentenced was quietly vacated. The Saudis, it is worth noting, outlawed slavery in 1962 even though (as Robert observes) the practice is explicitly approved in the Koran. Yes, slavery is still quietly practiced, but the formal ban in a country where sharia is the law of the land demonstrates that sharia can be changed, just as it can be (and has historically been) mitigated or suppressed by factors like culture and law.
We do not have to be delirious optimists to grasp these things. After all, change is not a one-way street — it can be regressive, too. As I argued in The Grand Jihad, President Wahid grossly underrated the numbers and influence of Muslims who subscribe to supremacist, political Islam. He also ceded significant ground in arguing that the “virulent” ideology of the Wahhabists and Salafists is “literal” and “simplistic.” It is hard to discredit something as a perversion of Islam when you are conceding its basis in written scripture, even if you add, as Wahid did, the caveat that its rendering of scripture is “selective.”
That virulent Islam is ascendant in the world today. Despite the good work of Nadlahtul Ulama, it is gaining strength in parts of Indonesia. It is rolling over Europe and making inroads here in America. It is a profound threat. To assert that there can be other interpretations of Islam — constructions that adapt to Western norms — is not to claim that such constructions will inevitably succeed or that Islamism’s sharia agenda will cease to be a profound threat. It is not to give Islam a pass: Even if Islam is capable of benign interpretations, it quite naturally spawns supremacist interpretations — interpretations whose influential adherents, such as Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, echo Robert’s conclusion that their Islam is the only Islam. To draw the Islam/Islamist distinction is not to claim that everything is coming up roses or that this story must eventually have a happy ending.
Nevertheless, the question raised by Robert’s unyielding position is whether there are, and can be, other viable interpretations of Islam. The answer is yes. They are not as cogent as we’d like them to be, and they do not compete with classical Islam as effectively as we wish. Most of the time, they are less a refutation of classical Islam than a choice — conscious or unconscious — to ignore its supremacist, political elements. But even a passive choice can change a doctrine or a social system, and can do so even if the ignored elements remain on the books.
We see that with our own law: political decisions about which statutes get enforced and which do not can effectively nullify the latter over time. Repeal is more often achieved by inaction than by a formal process — inaction does not require an airtight theory why some law or standard is no longer honored; all you need is inertia. Once the political will to enforce a standard has evaporated, most any post facto rationalization will justify it — even one that barely passes the laugh test. If Muslims came to a consensus position that mosque and state would henceforth be separated, or that aggressive jihad was no longer an acceptable way to impose sharia, it would be immaterial that these positions represented a less than compelling exegesis of their scripture.
My argument with Islam’s Western apologists is not that this kind of evolution is out of the realm of possibility. It is with their absurd insistence that it has already happened. Not just that it could conceivably happen — about which there are lots of reasons for pessimism — but that it has already happened. This is not only self-evidently untrue; it may be fatally counterproductive. By failing to shine the light of inquiry on supremacist, political Islam — by failing to force Islamists into the position of publicly acknowledging and defending their noxious beliefs — we deprive pro-Western Muslims of the platform they need to promote reform and marginalize the supremacists. This only empowers faux moderates like the Muslim Brotherhood, enabling them to push sharia as if it were unthreatening and promote Hamas as if it were an ordinary political party.
That, however, is a different problem from the one Robert’s position poses. He is essentially saying that if it is not supremacist and political, then it is not Islam. That not only closes the door on any potential reform, it risks antagonizing pro-Western Muslims. There are many of them and they have no desire to impose sharia on civil society — even if they are less vocal about that than we’d like. Given that they nevertheless see themselves as faithful Muslims, I do not see what purpose is served by telling them that Islam is incorrigibly supremacist and political.
From a tactical standpoint, we want such Muslims as our allies, and we certainly want to see them make inroads against the Islamic supremacists. That makes the Islam/Islamist distinction a worthy accommodation. It does not deny that classical Islam is the source of Islamism. But it does two important things. First, it identifies as “Islamist” those Muslims who hold to the supremacist and political aspects of Islam — and it is very useful for us to see those people for what they are. Second, it acknowledges interpretations of Islam that reject these political and supremacist elements: They are plausible, they are legitimately called “Islam,” and we want them to thrive. That is not a prediction of success, but it is a significant show of support.
— Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.
By and large, yes, I think that's exactly what it means. You must remember that the average person is an IQ 100 couch potato, content to sit and watch TV while shoving donuts into his face. That is average humanity, and has been from the dawn of time. That's why most civilizations throughout history have consisted of a few ruthless people ruling, their mandates being carried out by a cadre of ambitious people, and the remainder of humanity lives under that rule, content enough as long as there are bread and circuses.
That has always been the norm.
The men who wrote our Constitution were rare and unusual types. There have always been philosophical individuals, and there have always been comfortably wealthy individuals, and there have always been well-educated individuals, but through some rare and random accident of fate, a handful of men who were all three were at the same place and time. Seeing that opportunity, they made a template. That template could only be followed by people carefully selected and trained to follow it. We had that, here in the US, for a few decades.
But by the early 1900s, it was already in decline. We reached a tipping point quickly of types who want the ruthless and ambitious telling them what to do, providing the bread and the circuses, and I do believe America will soon be reclaimed by the jungle. I consider myself lucky to have seen the tail end of it, but humanity is what humanity is, and it doesn't change. It can learn, but it can't change its basic nature. And its basic nature is as primitive as any gorilla. We just have imagination, and more sophisticated means of transferring information, that's all.
I can agree except on one thing. “That said, some ideologies attract dangerous people, and Islam seems to be one of them.”
Muslims are not attracted to Islam, they are born to it. There
certainly may be the odd case of attraction, by some individual searching for a religion, but that is the exception not the rule. Other than that we agree totally.
What did it say?
Islam is recruiting briskly in our prisons.
I can understand clinically defined phobias. But, it has become fashionable to add “phobia” to any word to dismiss a person or a grp of people by implying that they are ignorant, or, worse, have psychological problems (anxiety disorder) – shall we use behavioral modification & desensitization as treatment or therapy?
Hadn’t heard of “Islamism” or “Islamist” before 2001. Though, a moslem is a *person* who follows Islam.
“Islamists trace their origins to Mohammed”.. To whom should “Islamists” (Moslems) trace their origins? When one wants to convert to Islam, all one has to say aloud in Arabic is: “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his messenger.” – Do even a fraction of Moslems not believe that the Angel Gabriel was the medium through whom Allah revealed the Koran to Mohammad?
“supremacist Islam”, “classical Islam”, “radical Islam”, “fundamentalist Islam”, “extremist Islam”, “political Islam”, etc, etc, etc.. . apparently, undermine the classical rendering of Sharia?! Mr McCarthy forgets to mention that “Sharia” is not just a set of laws, but it is also a code of conduct for moslems.
Islamic doctrine, according to Mohammad too, very clearly claims that Islam "perfects or completes" all other preceding religions. That Islam is the “final religion”, and Mohammad is "the final messenger or prophet of God”. -- That’s, partly, why the Baha’i faith, whose parent religion is Islam, is not recognized in ANY Moslem country. And, the main reason why the Baha’is are considered apostates & persecuted (not just in Iran). – how is that different to *supremacist Islam* ? Are these Moslem countries, “Islamist” countries?
Why do “officials” in Afghanistan, S. Arabia, Islamic Republic of Iran, etc.. need western pressure or outrage to quietly reverse their decisions, or not publicize the practice of stoning, hanging of apostates, flogging, and chopping fingers & hands as punishments? Would they continue should “western outrage” cease ?
I agree that moslems are individuals. Individuals, can pick & choose. They don’t need to be “pro-west” nor labeled as such to do so. But, whether *Islam* permits individualism & choice as they relate to Islamic doctrine is another matter. I know some Moslem Iranians believe it does. But then, those Iranians also confuse their cultural traditions, w/ Zoroastrian roots, w/ Islamic doctrine.
The issue with Andrew McCarthy’s article is that he (his article) is taking a *futuristic* (reformist) view of Islam. He admits it too.
So far, in 1300 plus yrs, Islam has not been ‘reformed’. Until that ‘reform’ happens, is accepted & practiced by mainstream moslems everywhere, we won’t know. And, imo, that reform, to the core tenets of Islam, needs to take place inside moslem countries by moslems themselves, because they want it to be reformed. Not simply by those (moslems incl.) who live in the West, espouse certain western values, or thru 'western outrage'. The former approach is the only way they'll have ownership of it & it'll be sustainable.
Fyi - thought you might be interested in the article & comments.
Thanks odds.
In fact, I seem to recall (and I am not an expert on these matters, not being american) that there are statements made by none other than Thomas Jefferson that seem to indicate that he was aware of the fundamental dichotomy between the template he had created and the innate sinfulness of mankind (in this case exemplified by laziness). All this liberty being watered by the blood of patriots, and our society is only fit for god-fearing people, and so on.
This is the problem with any idealist solution to the problems of the world (and frankly that is what the US constitution is) - it all looks good on paper, and the people who come up with it I'm sure are good, honest and well meaning, but their efforts have to come up against the simple fact that Human Beings are very flawed creations.
Thanks for the ping odds. Those who practice islam are taught to be submissive to and subjects of the religion without questioning any of the dictates of the unholy book of islam. When one is brought up and trained in this way, mohammad (the prophet of all demons) realized an army could be assembled to pillage, rape, and destroy all good. mohammad used the army created to do exactly thus thereby marking any other religion as an enemy within the writings thereby justifying unspeakable acts up to and including murder within the dictates of the writings of the quran, to enable himself and not enable God, but rather enable numerous demons. Those who practice islam are enablers of evil and islam’s purpose is to enable demons bent on mankind’s destruction. mohammad was a prophets of and an enabler of demons.
After the drafting of the Constitution Ben Franklin was asked, what type of government do we have? Ben Franklin stated, “We have a Republic, if you can keep it.” There are always those who will take something good, and will turn it (if they can) to evil. Ben Franklin could have been referring to mohammad and religion, yet for this question he was referring to the Constitution.
But I suppose it was worth a try, self-rule. The worst than can happen is that it devolves back into the usual mess. At least it doesn't require several million dead to get it all up and running, like Communism.
Thats the money quote I was trying to remember! Thanks!
That's part of the problem in reforming Islam - the fact that Islam teaches moslems submission w/out questioning. Or, at least, not negating its core tenets. Since the Koran (Quran) is viewed as immutable, the 'moderate' moslems tend to find ways around it, for example, by saying the violent parts are incorrectly interpreted. Or somehow rationalize/justify their existence, in certain circumstances.
I also think western pressure to reform can result in cosmetic changes only. Those moslems who live in the west (or some who live in moslem countries) & want to align themselves w/ western values, may do so because of political, social pressures rather than genuinely seeing & accepting that a need to reform the core tenets of Islam is required.
Btw, the Baha'i faith can very much be said to be one type of 'reformed Islam'. But, it is not recognized in any moslem country. Even as it clearly acknowledges & recognizes Allah, Mohammad as prophet & its original concepts were drawn from the Koran. Later, other religious sources were used to develop the faith. But, it also forbids its adherents from holding membership in any political party.
Perhaps a better method would be if fewer people were encouraged to practice Islam. Rather than only encouraging them to 'reform' Islam. In reality, the west, in recent centuries, has been an enabler of Islam.
My trust of those who read the quran and worship allah (the devil) runs the deepest of depths. With lying being acceptable to advance islam, researching and finding any words spoken by a moslem to be unreliable. Have come to believe a moslem’s words are a probable agenda, laced as a means to an end of all freedom. Therefore I shall never trust moslems. When faced with choosing freedom or islam, I shall choose freedom. My belief is for a (so-called) holy book to allow lying is one of the worst forms of deception which islam teaches to further islam’s agenda. This fact alone causes me to be suspicious of any words spoken by moslems. Not having said anything which you were not already aware of, I do want to thank you for the link and the background information of the Baha’i faith. Another educational moment for me. Thanks odds.
TO ALL,
WOW! Well, in the words of JESUS CHRIST, “ Beware of the leavened bread of the Pharisees”; definitely beware.
The pharisees ( educators, soothsayers, rumor makers, politicians, scholars, doctors, and people on “ high “ positions of that time)and their children that have crossed generations ( just like believers’ children have) are everywhere. There will be more of them than us. Remember, a remnant is pulled out of this earth.
Remember that to seperate believers and those seeking, is the role of the Pharisee; the role of the devil ( adversary. This seperation is done by giving people false education, rumors of wars and possible disasters, and many other things that JESUS said they will do to say the world is coming to an end and HE is coming back. BUT HE WILL NOT!! This is just make people paranoid and forget who GOD is, HIS promises, and HIS power. AMEN!! Dont be fooled.
It’s not for us who really believe to investigate the Pharisees and their children and the soooo many names and organizations they hide behind. Jesus just said it’s necessary to know their jobs, but know their fruit.
THE FRUIT of a believer gives all praises back to GOD and nothing for themselves. They know that all praise to GOD brings attention to GOD, and HIS attention/love gives us all we need to survive here. A believer also follows all the prophets/messengers, and slowly understands that JESUS is the son of GOD and the WORD made flesh and follows what HE says which is only two things:
1. Love the LORD with all your heart.
2. Love thy neighbor ( everyone else) till HE comes again.
Though JESUS says more, HE tells us this is the greatest things to remember.
The fruit of the Pharisees ( those that follow satan), is that they will mention GOD, JESUS, ALLAH, ELOHIM, BUDDHA, and whoever they think the power belongs that atracts people to get people to follow them. But later the focus is on them ( that person speaking) personally. Showcasing their intelligence, giving praise to them, and only to benefit them. They will stay behind religion, sports, and whatever gravitates people to spend different forms of money ( spiritual, material, or mental). They love attention, praise, and status. It’s a way of control and they feel living longer or passing down a lineage for their children’s “ security “ on this earth.
They are more here than we are. That’s why JESUS says, “ Many are called and chosen are few”. Dont be fooled, they are the ones that would make computers and these forms of communication. But GOD allows it and gives them the intelligence for it, because HE can always use one of HIS believers to use any tool the adversary or HIS followers make to turn it around for HIS GOOD! GOD uses them as a test for our faith.
GOD’s goodness lets us go low into our problems, see them, confess them, and repent them. HIS GOODNESS makes us seek unity with all people knowing that we are all sinners and all in need of JESUS CHRIST’s love in our lives. Though GOD’s goodness allows us to go low, it doesnt kill us, but it eventually makes us so powerful and unique in this world that many wont understand us, but love us or only hate us because they can’t live or feel this love of JESUS they see us living. Also, the light we show in HIM will shine on many peoples’ bad deeds they are doing ( like JESUS light did to us when we were in sin). So, this light from JESUS through us may want people to harm us, but know that that harm is because those people or persons’ are being changed. As we were. No one here is not a sinner. All of us are.
Sin denies CHRIST. So we all are guilty of it. That’s why JESUS orders us to just love one another till he comes, spread THE WORD, and just beware of the Pharisees. Meaning just move away from them. Dont give them press, attention, or anything; that’s what they want.
Stay in prayer believers. Get true power as JESUS said through prayer and fasting. This will make you very strong and you will see the power of GOD through JESUS CHRIST in your faith. You will start to see temptation and laugh. With JESUS in us, remember the adversary ( who already lost to HIM) has no wins over us. He must move on, unfortunately to other people. He and his angels must move on to tempt others.
As far as all these names, radical, political, and other subjegation of a muslim, Chrisitan, or whatever belief. PLEASE BE CAREFUL of those that love to divide terminologies and put people in boxes of subjecated beliefs. If you really want to know what someone believes, then study it yourself. If not, then you assume, and assumption is based upon rumors and what you think of them. This is judgement, and this is what we can’t do. Only GOD knows the heart. Only GOD knows if the heart will change or not. We can only pray that it does.
Know that anyone that believes in ABRAHAM are of our fold. GOD will bring them. Muslims and Jews believe in Abraham. Dont be fooled by the name ALLAH, it just means KING or GOD in english ( like Deus, Elohim, Enlightened One, Divine One, and more....). Remember, GOD seperated us by language in the TOWER of BABEL. HE has many, many, many names. So, people that were seperated in the tower had children and told the story and power of GOD in the language HE gave them.
Dont be fooled. The three are connected, Jew, Christian, and Muslim. Funny that JESUS says, be all things to all men, and Paul says later that you can call us JEW, HEBREW, etc....believing in CHRIST is the key. And CHRIST comes from the FATHER.
Praise GOD for giving me the chance to know many people from other beliefs, and know that in Tower of Babel the devil’s people were there as well. So, they were also given different languages and will stir up controversy in those languages and beliefs as well; only to divide.
The muslims, jews, buddhist, Bahai, and more people that I know and met and know for years are very peacful and seeking love like us. When GOD has allowed me to speak about JESUS with them, there is no probelm with JESUS and many love HIM! In the Quaran, HE is the ISA; the Messiah. Read between the lines people, NO MAN CAN BE THE MESSIAH!! But it takes a long time to realize this, even believers have a problem; thats why they sin. We sin trying to be JESUS, not following HIM! HE who keeps HIS eyes on the FATHER, because HE comes from the FATHER!! This is easy to understand.
Also, in the Quran, JESUS is the one they wait to come back to say who HE is; not Mohammed. Many dont know this. Some have learned HE cant be a prophet and hard to break the stronghold of teaching that said HE was. Yet, again, so do we. This is why we sin. But, remember that JESUS said to the disciples that, “ No one can speak lightly of me!”. We should call anyone that speaks of JESUS brother.
GOD has allowed me to read alot of the Quran before in english translations ( with the Arabic writing on one side; if HE wills I will even learn that one day). But, just like our books they are in english, they are in different languages. Dont be fooled by the “ original language” jargon from any belief. Originally, languages were orally through tribes, so no one speaks the original 1 language anymore; NO ONE!!. And to say we must call GOD by HIS NAME, then people dont realize that HE seperated us by languages. So, HE doesnt know the language and the heart behind the language HE gave someone?? And doesnt know HIS NAME in any language!?? LOL! thats a joke. People, again, beware and dont be fooled.
Remember, being GOD’s top angel, that the devil also knows the BIBLE and the TORAH. So, HE knows sinners/humans are lazy. He knows this through his temptations that people fall to everyday, which is his smoke screen to make people stop reading and finding the truth of JESUS in the WORD!! When we stop falling to the temptataions, then we start to see how powerful the FATHER has made CHRIST and who HE truly is. With hate in the heart, jealousy, violence, judgement, backbiting, and other sins in the heart; it’s impossible to see JESUS!!.
The devil’s followers ( the pharisees and many other names they hide behind. Remember just look at their fruit/actions), they are just like the devil. They are very intelligent and wise in scriptures. So, they know how to play with words, images, and many things to confuse and baffle believers ( strong or weak).
Remember the devil is the angel of light, looks great, talks great; he is sort of a playboy in a way. Same are his followers. So, he and they look becoming, and are very attractive in many different ways; whatever is needed to bring you in. Remember, that the believers in the BIBLE ( and even now, which is still the BIBLE time as CHRIST has come back yet). They all wanted CHRIST to look like a “ KING”, rich, very powerful in wealth, physical authority, and all human idolatry. That’s why they couldnt understand the SPIRITUAL RICHNESS of love and faith HE possessed. This sort of richness does nothing for peoples’ pockets or self-esteem. It’s past the flesh.
JESUS is the LIGHT!! So, HE is very plain, true, honest, and the way. HIS way is very different from what we learn in school, home, work, and in our environment. Because HE is just love. HIS love keeps us from evil,and makes us chase GOD’s goodness.
Remember that even JESUS who is the living WORD. Even HE walked around with letters to speak to the JEWS and Pharisees ( the educators, lawyers, and political men of that time; whose children are still around and in the same positions and even lower ones.). So, JESUS life makes the BIBLE, so, know that HE had to be speaking from the TORAH! So, from this, we should know that JESUS read the TORAH, which tells us to read others’ books to understand people; and how to talk to them. Which makes JESUS statement here very powerful, “ BE WISE AS A SERPENT and INNOCENT as a DOVE”.
Especially read their books if we are trying to minister to them and let them see the power of GOD through JESUS CHRIST!! If we dont have the patience for this, it’s better for us to just pray for GOD to change people; but make no comment about them. We can’t comment as we didnt even show the same respect we would want them to do for us. Tell them to read but we dont? No, that is not the way of JESUS!
To go further, if we just believe what people tell us about something or someone. No matter how “ great” or “ less” their intelligence, then this shows that a person trusts in man. JESUS says never to trust in man. Only trust in GOD. We are all sinners. Trust no man. But research behind what someone says and look for the validity before we make an assessment.
When the remnant is gathered from believers of this fold and not, then, this is more the sign of the coming of the LORD, not violence, war, and mayhem. People dont be fooled. But the remnant can only be gathered by the love of the sheperds. Ask ourselves, DO WE SEE ALOT OF LOVE HERE and IN THE WORLD?? I say this over and over to believers.
I know through the WORD, that believers are only a remnant, because a believer is from the heart and then the action. So, GOD allows us to know by scripture and by sight ( especially when we travel alot) that many are confused ( i.e. lost sheep), waiting to here that voice through us. But, many believers are afraid and dont speak out and not acting out in love because of fear of them, their loved ones, or family dying. They act out in the way evil does, with violence, mayhem, and controversy; due to fear. JESUS didnt do that.
JESUS love broke people and showed easily the difference between good and evil with HIM not even having to do much but miracles ( around believers and few non-believers) and preach parables and stories that showed believers who is a believer and who isnt ( for HIS power, this wasnt much! To us, it was and is impossible to do or imagine). Only sometimes did HE point to who the evil ones were. But HE caught them in the act and knew their hearts ( as we dont). BUT, HE never killed them. HE leaves this to GOD; the FATHER!! AMEN!!
By reading the WORD, we know from JOHN 10 that there will be the sheep that will hear HIS voice and come. THen there will also be the sheep not of this fold ( non-believers and people from other beliefs) that will also hear HIS voice and come. GOD has allowed me to experience this personally as I have friends that were muslim, and family and friends that were other beliefs when I was young and now. Know that a muslim that follows the Quran is like a Jew. They, like us, believe in the GOD of Abraham.
My Mom told me to read their books before I judged them ( as I am from a Christian background), and it’s funny that GOD allowed me the wisdom to compare their books to where CHRIST is in the books( it’s easier in the Quran and Torah then the others). Most of my friends, loved ones, and some family are now believers in CHRIST with eyes on the FATHER! Or they are seeking. Or they always mention that they wish many would have the love of CHRIST that is shown in the BIBLE! Which is great to hear!! But it was the love they said that GOD showed through me that brought them in; which lets me know that believers have work to do on that point in faith.
I always said it was CHRIST love that I am feeding off of in faith, and all respect goes to HIM! When they read about HIM, then, they changed more. Believers we have to be the living guide to the WORD. Making our lives the secure pathway to why JESUS is the WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE/LIGHT!!
Realize how much of the world would rather talk of evil then speak of JESUS. This is not the fruit of a believer. But the line is very fine. Only through fasting and praying will a person understand that fine line and find heaven on earth here in their heart. As it says in the WORD, “ Blessed are the pure at heart for they will see GOD. ALLELUIA!! AMEN!!
Brothers and sisters beware. Pray and fast. Believe and live HIS LOVE. Meditate, read the scriptures, and take notes day and night. Note what part of your life that needs work and work on it. Change for HIM, not for humans. Changing for HIM will naturally take care of any problems with humans. Remember GOD created all beings, so, when we move towards HIM, HE clears the way for us. Spread the WORD, love one another, and treat your brothers and sisters in faith special.
Please read these scriptures for vailidity. Believers should back things up with scripture. Backing it up gives GOD all the praise. GOD gives us the wisdom and knowledge in all things. We can take no credit. We are born with a character ( personality), talent, intelligence, and physical aptitude that we have no part in. Why we were given different things? Why we look different? Why we are even here? All of that is out of our power. I pray all understand.
Now, I say this for those that dont believe so that they can understand that you can search till your blue in the face. No one will ever fully know how we were put here and given inside of us all the great things we have till we know GOD.
I will copy and paste from Bibles online. From different books of the bible so we can see the similarities. Message is the same. These are all from the notes GOD has me do in my regular home studies or when I am at a church or outside at a church of the spirit; all the same because GOD is everywhere. So, whatever BIBLE you have the meaning will be the same.
GOD KNOWS ALL, controls all, and all wisdom means nothing to HIM and is HIS!! Be humble, serve and follow:
Proverbs 21:30
30 No wisdom, no understanding, no advice is worth anything before Yahweh.
Ecclesiastes/Sirach 3:17-23
17 My child, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.
18 The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord;
19
20 for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble.
21 Do not try to understand things that are too difficult for you, or try to discover what is beyond your powers.
22 Concentrate on what has been assigned you, you have no need to worry over mysteries.
23 Do not meddle with matters that are beyond you; what you have been taught already exceeds the scope of the human mind.
another version of the Ecclesiastes passage:
Ecclesiastes 3:12-22
12 I know that [there is] no good in them, but for [a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth [it], that [men] should fear before him.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, [that] wickedness [was] there; and the place of righteousness, [that] iniquity [was] there.
17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that [there is] nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that [is] his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
1 CORINTHIANS 2:7-16
7 It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began.
8 None of the rulers of the age recognised it; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
9 but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him;
10 to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God.
11 After all, is there anyone who knows the qualities of anyone except his own spirit, within him; and in the same way, nobody knows the qualities of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God’s own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us.
13 And these are what we speak of, not in the terms learnt from human philosophy, but in terms learnt from the Spirit, fitting spiritual language to spiritual things.
14 The natural person has no room for the gifts of God’s Spirit; to him they are folly; he cannot recognise them, because their value can be assessed only in the Spirit.
15 The spiritual person, on the other hand, can assess the value of everything, and that person’s value cannot be assessed by anybody else.
16 For: who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his adviser? But we are those who have the mind of Christ.
RUMORS OF WARS, DISEASE, and CONFUSION but it doenst mean JESUS is coming! False prophets ( pharisees), etc...
Matthew 24:4-51
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these [are] the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed [is] that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite [his] fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for [him], and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
BE CAREFUL OF THE LEAVENED BREAD OF THE PHARISEES!! They love to worship man.
MATTHEW 16;11-12
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake [it] not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
LUKE 11:37-54
37 He had just finished speaking when a Pharisee invited him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at table.
38 The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that he had not first washed before the meal.
39 But the Lord said to him, ‘You Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness.
40 Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too?
41 Instead, give alms from what you have and, look, everything will be clean for you.
42 But alas for you Pharisees, because you pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others.
43 Alas for you Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares!
44 Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that people walk on without knowing it!’
45 A lawyer then spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘when you speak like this you insult us too.’
46 But he said, ‘Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips.
47 ‘Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed!
48 In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.
49 ‘And that is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute,
50 so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple.” Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.
52 ‘Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to.’
53 When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions,
54 lying in wait to catch him out in something he might say.
JOHN 12:42-43
42 And yet there were many who did believe in him, even among the leading men, but they did not admit it, because of the Pharisees and for fear of being banned from the synagogue:
43 they put human glory before God’s glory.
THE ADVERSARY and HIS ANGELS:
MATTHEW 12:43-45
43 ‘When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and cannot find one.
44 Then it says, “I will return to the home I came from.” But on arrival, finding it unoccupied, swept and tidied,
45 it then goes off and collects seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, and so that person ends up worse off than before. That is what will happen to this wicked generation.’
SEPERATED BY GOD INTO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES BECAUSE OF OUR EVIL:
GENESIS 11:1-9
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
MANY BELIEVE BUT ARE AFRAID and will try to save their lives, by even getting a weak believer to tempt you as Peter was used to tempt Jesus and was rebuked:
MARK 8:31-38
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;
32 and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.
33 But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.’
34 He called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.
35 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
36 What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?
37 And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?
38 For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
THE SHEEP: the fold and those not of the fold that will have to hear HIS voice to come:
JOHN 10:11-16
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
12 The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and runs away, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;
13 he runs away because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.
16 And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and I must lead these too. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, one shepherd.
GOD LOVES TO TEST HIS RIGHTEOUS! BE STRONG. HE hates violence and the wicked ( in the heart that is):
PSALMS 11:5
5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
BE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN ( humans):
1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23
19 So though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could.
20 To the Jews I made myself as a Jew, to win the Jews; to those under the Law as one under the Law (though I am not), in order to win those under the Law;
21 to those outside the Law as one outside the Law, though I am not outside the Law but under Christ’s law, to win those outside the Law.
22 To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation.
23 All this I do for the sake of the gospel, that I may share its benefits with others.
MANY ARE CALLED, but chosen are few
MATTHEW 22:14
14 For many are called, but few [are] chosen.
CALL PEOPLE WHO TALK ABOUT JESUS and help others, call them BROTHERS:
MARK 9:38-41
38 John said to him, ‘Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’
39 But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.
40 Anyone who is not against us is for us.
41 ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward.
Love all people, judge no one or you will be judged, love your enemies not just believers:
LUKE 6:27-38
27 ‘But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.
29 To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it.
31 Treat others as you would like people to treat you.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them.
33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much.
34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount.
35 Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
36 ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.
37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.’
GREATEST TWO COMMANDMENTS:
MARK 12:28-32
28 One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’
29 Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord,
30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
31 The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
32 The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other.
BLESSED ARE THE PURE AT HEART FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD:
MATTHEW 5:8
8 Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
LOVE TO ALL IN THE HOLY PRECIOUS NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!
jesus4life
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