May Newsletter and Article Are Up

Commentary for May 2, 2003 — God’s Revelation and Islam

The Newsletter introducing Dr. Martin’s article for May, 2003 discusses from a biblical perspective one way in which God communicates directly to us through the natural realm. This mode of communication has existed since the Flood survived by Noah and his family. It is a way that God speaks to the world and you personally every time you see this message in the skies. God does speak to His creation.

The article for May, 2003 is a Special Historical Report on Islam” by Dr. Ernest L. Martin that he wrote in 1993. Adherants to the religion of Islam believe that God communicated to the Prophet Muhammed in the early 7th century so that those who love God can return back to the true faith of Abraham. It is necessary for believers in Islam to perform certain requirements (acts and deeds) to express their devotion to the One God and to obtain salvation. While desiring peace and harmony with Jews and Christians as fellow “peoples of the book,” believers in Islam do not adhere to the beliefs of the Old Covenant, the New Covenant or the Mystery.

Of the 1.2 billion believers in Islam, only about 15-18% are Arabs. The total number of Muslim believers roughly equals the total population of Mainland China. Each involves about one-fifth of all human beings on earth (with about 50 million Muslims in China).

The island nation of Indonesia has the largest Muslim population (some 182 million). Then in order of population size come the nations of Southeast Asia: Pakistan (134 million), India (125 million) Bangladesh (114 million), Turkey (65 million), Iran (62 million), Egypt (58 million), Nigeria (52 million), China (50 million), Algeria (30 million) and Morocco (29 million). [Source: http://www.aneki.com/muslim.html.] Several Western European countries have sizable minorities of Muslims such as England, France and Germany which each have about 2 million each.

While the Arabic adherants to Islam are at present the most politically involved in world affairs at present, it should be understood that they are a minority of Islamic believers. It should also be understood that Islam as practiced in rural villages and cities around the world is unlike the Islam presented by the major orthodox Islam groups. Islam practiced in those parts of the world are actually local folk religions with an Islamic belief structure only on the surface. This is not to say that such believers are not sincere or believe that they are not Muslim, but it does mean that their practices are radically different than Islamic orthodoxy would have you believe.

This situation is no different with Christianity as practiced in South America, Africa, Asia and Europe in the villages and most cities around the world. In most cases Christianity is actually a variety of the local folk religion filled with superstitions, practices, images, rituals, symbols and beliefs derived from paganism that are Christian in name and tradition only. True Christianity has nothing to do with robes and vestments, ornate buildings, rituals, or lip service to the Bible and to God. In such Christianity the Word of God is diminished to be a book to make people “feel close to God” or “feel special” about themselves, and not a book to be taken seriously, much less as possessing true facts of history, doctrine or prophecy.

In truth, the Bible today is the complete Word of God, requiring no additional revelation after its completion. The revelation of the Mystery as given to Paul, Peter and John finalized the revelation the plan of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the full story of the completeness of the Bible in Dr. Martin’s book, Restoring the Original Bible. What fascinated me about this book when I first read it was that the process for the canonization of the Old Testament is well demonstrated in the Scriptures, Jewish writings and history, while the evidence for the canonization of the New Testament is internal to the writings themselves, as Dr. Martin explains.

If you do not own this book, get it. If you loaned it out, get it back. If you do own this book, reread it or at least skim it again to refresh your memory of the processes that God used to preserve and complete the Word of God for us as we approach the restitution of all things and the time of the end.

David Sielaff
david@askelm.com

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