Back in the 1960’s there was a popular movement brought on by the youth of the day. It was called the Hippy movement. There was peace and love, flower power, and religion. Many hippies conformed to the eastern religions, especially Hare Krishna. Their communal lifestyle and Indian clothing was their trademark. This Hindu movement went worldwide. So you see, everyone believes in something or someone. It seems that religion, whether you want it or not, plays a big part in our lives. In one way or another everyone serves some god, if it is the gods of the world like money or power or themselves or anyone who comes along. Years ago mainstream religion was important, but today, so many people do not go to church or practice any kind of faith. The world and all it has to offer has become our god. Maybe this is because over the years and even centuries, there have been so many different religions, all having their own god. But not everyone can be a god and not every religion can be correct. To be a god means that you have to be a supreme being, one without a beginning or an end, one who is not like us a human, otherwise he would be no different than you or I. We want to look deeper into all of this to find the One True God. There are over 4,000 religions today. We will not be able to go through them all, but let’s take a look at a few of them.
We want to start with one of the earliest religions called Humanism. Humanism also known as secular humanism began with Satan who proclaimed himself as god and rejected the God of Creation. From there one third of all the angels in heaven fell and then man himself fell. Most humanists do not believe in deities, an afterlife, or other supernatural phenomena. Humanism specifically rejects religious belief and puts its emphasis on reason and science as the primary means of understanding the world. Humanism basically says, there is no other god except me.
Hinduism has their many gods and goddesses which were like the Roman and the Greek and Persian Empires. Can everyone be a god? If so, then what is the point? It’s like having many kings over you. Only one can rule or else there is chaos. Hinduism began in Pakistan somewhere around 2300 BCE-1500 BCE. There is no specific or single founder. Can a person even serve or please so many gods and which one should you follow or who is their leader? Could this really be a true religion with so many gods and founders?
Then there is Buddhism. Siddhartha Gautoma, the founder, became a god called Buddah. He began the religion in the 6th Century in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, India, and it spread throughout Asia. Buddhism also has those who are called enlightened beings who are also worshiped. So many gods, can you please them all? So many people have this idea of a god as an abstract force like energy or light who rule the universes, but the One True God has to be more than just energy or light, or does He have to be more? The most common religions today are Judaism, Judeo Christianity and Islam. Let’s start with Islam.
Islam. Islam is generally considered to have started in 610 CE, when the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation. It was here where Muhammad is believed to have been visited by the angel Gabriel and received divine messages, which is the foundational moment for the religion of Islam. While the revelation to Muhammad is the starting point. Islam, as a religion and community, continued to develop and spread over time, particularly after Muhammad’s migration to Medina in 622 CE. The Islamic calendar, also known as the Hijri calendar, begins with this migration, marking the first year of the Islamic Era. Islam is a monotheistic religion centered around the belief in one god, Allah, and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. It is the second-largest religion globally, with over two billion followers. Islam emphasizes submission to god’s will, as revealed in the Quran, which practices the Five Pillars of Islam.
These are the core practices of the faith: Shahada: Declaration of faith in Allah and Muhammad. Salah: Performing ritual prayers five times a day. Zakat: Giving to charity or alms. Sawm: Fasting during the month of Ramadan. Hajj: Making a pilgrimage to Mecca if physically and financially able. Monotheism: Muslims believe in the absolute oneness of god (Allah). Prophets: They believe in a line of prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, with Muhammad being the final prophet. The Quran: The Quran is considered the literal word of god, revealed to Muhammad. There are two main factions within Islam, they are Sunni and Shia. This division arose from a historical dispute over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad after his death. Sunnis believe the successor should be chosen by the community, while Shias believe the successor should be a descendant of Muhammad, specifically Ali, his cousin and son-in-law. So can the god of Islam be the One True God? Did Muhammad’s successors ever have a vision by the angel Gabriel to make them qualify?
Now let’s look at Judaism. Judaism’s roots can be traced back to the patriarch Abraham, believed to have lived around 1800 BCE. God made covenants with Abraham, which to this day are still in effect as they were passed on to his son Isaac and to his son Jacob and then passed on to all the twelve tribes of Jacob which were called the twelve tribes of Israel after God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel are those who today live in the land of Israel, which God gave to those who left Egypt with Moses and wandered in the wilderness for forty years upon entering into the promised land, (this the land we call today the State of Israel), thus the modern State of Israel goes back to 1948. Since the giving of the Law (the Ten Commandments) to Moses at Mt Sinai in 1446 BCE (when the Israelites were in the wilderness they also constructed the Tent of Meetings, the sanctuary, which later became the permanent temple,) the Jewish people have had the same customs, the Commandments, and the Biblical Appointed Times (Leviticus 23), which are the foundation of their belief in the Torah, which is the Word of God. The Jewish people believe in the God of Creation for it was this God who revealed Himself to Adam and Eve and their children, and so many others like Job, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the twelve tribes of Israel at Mt. Sinai, (which consisted of about 600,000 men not including the women and children), also to the prophets, and so many others throughout time. They all worshiped the God of Creation and not themselves or an Idol.
It was this God of Creation who sent His Word, in the flesh, He was called Yeshua, which means God’s Salvation, for He became our salvation. Today we have westernized this Messiah and we now call Him Jesus. From Him we now have those who call themselves Judeochristians, they also are known as Christians. Judeochrisitans are called this because they also believe in the God of Creation. They also believe in the same Word of God as those who practice Judaism, except Christians have added the Scriptures which speak about the Messiah and the work He and His disciples did. For many centuries Judeochristians kept the 7th day Sabbath and the customs, the Ten Commandments and the Biblical Appointed Times of Judaism, until the 4th Century when the Emperor Constantine changed it all. The largest of all faiths today is the Christian faith and the Bible, which is the Word of God, has sold more copies than any other book in history. Yeshua told the people many times that He and the God of Creation were One. In fact one day, the crowd that stood around Yeshua even heard the voice of God saying that He was pleased with Yeshua, His Son. Yeshua died for our sins and rose from the dead and He rose back up to heaven with all of His disciples there to witness it. Yeshua did great miracles of healing and deliverance and the multiplying of food which was witnessed by thousands of people. These 12 men, who were His disciples and hundreds of other people, eventually died as martyrs for their faith and for what they believed in. What they lived and experienced compelled them to go out and tell the world. Throughout the centuries Chrisitanity has become the number one faith with the most followers. But today many people are returning to their Judeochristian roots by keeping the 7th day Sabbath and the customs, the Ten Commandments, and God’s Appointed Times, all of which Constantine changed.
But there are many factions of the Christian faith, with many of them truly not what true Christianity believes. One of these is the Mormon religion. Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. According to Wikipedia: prominent feature of Mormon theology is the Book of Mormon, a 19th-century text which describes itself as a chronicle of early Indigenous peoples of the Americas and their dealings with God. Mormon theology includes mainstream Christian beliefs with modifications stemming from belief in revelations to Smith and other religious leaders. This includes the use of and belief in the Bible and other religious texts, including the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Mormonism includes significant doctrines of eternal marriage, eternal progression, baptism for the dead, polygamy or plural marriage, sexual purity, health (specified in the Word of Wisdom), fasting, and Sabbath observance. The theology itself is not uniform; as early as 1831, and most significantly after Smith’s death, various groups split from the Church of Christ that Smith established. One source estimated over 400 denominations have sprung from founder Joseph Smith’s original movement.
Another group is the Jehovah Witnesses. The beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses are based on the Bible teachings of Charles Taze Russell—founder of the Bible Student movement—and successive presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and Nathan Homer Knorr. Since 1976, all doctrinal decisions have been made by the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group of elders at the denomination’s headquarters. These teachings are disseminated through The Watchtower magazine and other publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and at conventions and congregation meetings. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the present world order, which they believe to be under the control of Satan, will be ended by a direct intervention of Jehovah (God), who will use Jesus to fully establish his heavenly government over earth, destroying existing human governments and non-Witnesses, and creating a cleansed society of true worshippers who will live forever. They see their mission as primarily evangelical, disseminating the good news, to warn as many people as possible in the remaining time before Armageddon. All members of the denomination are expected to take an active part in preaching. Witnesses refer to all their beliefs collectively as “the Truth”.
Let’s look at one more group: The Seventh Day Adventist. The Seventh-day Adventist approach to theology is affected by the level of authority according to the writings of Ellen White. Mainstream Adventists believe that White had the spiritual gift of prophecy, but that her writings are subject to testing by the Bible, which has ultimate authority. The Seventh Day Adventist keep the seventh day sabbath but they do not keep other customs and rituals of Judaism. Many people who attend their churches do not eat any kind of meat and they have a strict dress code.
So after looking at just a few of the current religions of the day we still have to ask “Will the real God please stand up”?
Looking at the facts you would have to say, which one does not have a regular person as their god or gods?
Which one doesn’t have the members of their group making up their doctrine? Which one doesn’t let me be god?
I think you would come up with Judaism. Now if Judaism would add Messiah Yeshua to their faith, and if Christians would add the Biblical customs and Appointed Times to their faith, and return to the original keeping of the Ten Commandments, you would have the perfect religion. But as far as God the Creator of all things, they both have the same God. Today, people want Israel annihilated, but this goes back to Satan, the first Humanist, who wanted to be God. He too, hated God’s people, Jews and Christians, and that is why he set out to have Adam and Eve fall. There are many religions and many gods, but there is still only one Supreme Being, and that’s what makes Him God, the Creator of all things.