Wednesday, June 8, 2016

TIME LINES OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM


TIME LINES OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM:

How Much Time Do We Have Left for the United States of America ?

By William J. Skinner

Ancient books and documents contain some surprising information.  Scholars in languages, archeology, history of war, religion, and other areas have studied these old sources for many years.  Recently I read several books and viewed some college level and advanced lectures on early Christianity and early Islam.  For over 40 years I have read about Biblical archeology and history.[1]

This article is an attempt to boil these topics down to the essentials, to get everyone up to speed, because I have become convinced now more than ever that we in the USA could lose everything if certain newly laid plans of Islamic leaders are carried out as the Muslim Brotherhood has desired for several decades.

Anyone who says Islam is a religion of peace is ignorant of the facts of life and death.   Islam started as a deceitful massacre of Jews (the “Reds”) and a tribe of Arabs (the “Blacks”) at the first hijra under the leadership of Mohammad to Medina.  Those Blacks who helped the multiple-year takeover of Medina were the next to be disposed of by Mohammad who consolidated his gains with the property of the Jews and other opponents and their successors.

The expansion of land and people under the control of Islam is the purpose of Islam.  Preaching love to these people does no good because their system teaches them to take generations needed to achieve their goals.  Islam teaches to take the easy way and lie, but stay away in enclaves until the Muslims can overwhelm the current occupants of a village, town, county or state.

The Islam ideology grows because some future disturbed or disgruntled grandson or great, great grandson will learn he has not followed the plan and then try to carry it out.  Some call this “self-radicalization.” This and other techniques and strategies have kept alive the sinister flame of Mohammad since 618 CE.  A small (139 pages) reference for more details about the hijra is perpetuated can be found in Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, accepting Freedom or Imposing Islam? by Sam Solomon and E Al Maqdisi[2]

We can see that in the Sudan and Nigeria, for instance, during that past 20 years, the Islamists are organized primarily at the culture level of tribes (if they want to have more children for the next few battles, they go kidnap 300 school girls and rape them) and they want us to all to experience the 600 CE lifestyle under their leadership.  Never mind that the president of the Sudan was indicted for war crimes by the World Court but still enjoys unrestricted travel to and from other countries.

In the United States we are witnessing the first president who promised to transform the country into something other than what it was at the founding and other than what it was in 2008. A growing number of Americans suspect that we are witnessing a political ideology in the Obama Administration that is directed to support more than equal treatment for Islam than it does for Western or Eastern religions.  But our Congress seems powerless to do anything about this favoritism.

Many groups have compiled lists of dozens of official acts of the Obama Administration that somehow benefit the advance of Islam while making it more difficult for the American defense forces to stop ISIL or to stop other related tyrannical Islamo-facists in their quest for power.  The U.S. is allowing or actively importing immigrant refuges, some of which have backgrounds that cannot be vetted.

Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department are lying to a Federal Judge about actions taken by the current Administration to waive deportation and grant work permits.  All of the above concerns are troublesome, but another major change is occurring under our noses.  The Muslim population is growing by leaps and bounds with the support of the taxpayers.

Muslims men are obtaining various welfare payments to help them maintain four wives and they are producing lots of children.  For many years I have been active in civic and political associations.  A Muslim man followed me as president of one civic association.  We became friendly.  He told me that one day Muslim will have produced more votes that the regular Americans and Muslims would take over all elected positions.  The longer I live, the more this prediction looks like it might come true.

Pew Research[3] says:

The world’s Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35% in the next 20 years, rising from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030, according to new population projections by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.

 Globally, the Muslim population is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population over the next two decades – an average annual growth rate of 1.5% for Muslims, compared with 0.7% for non-Muslims. If current trends continue, Muslims will make up 26.4% of the world’s total projected population of 8.3 billion in 2030, up from 23.4% of the estimated 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.

Either way, these factors make a conquest more probable than just possible. 

The Timeline Background

Christianity

The Christian Church started slowly in about 30 to 34 CE (for Common Era for nonbelievers) or AD (Anno. Domini) upon the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph and Mary, of the New Testament.  Jesus started his ministry of about three years duration with John the Baptist in the area of Galilee at the age of about 30.  Jesus did not leave writings.

Biblical scholars say that Saul of Tarsus, an educated Jew and prosecutor of Christians, became converted as a Jesus follower during a trip to round up Jesus adherents for prosecution.  Saul had a vision and discussion with Jesus and was diverted to Damascus to restore his sight. This event happened about two years after the resurrection of Jesus.  Saul became Paul the Apostle and later wrote the first book of what is now the New Testament, epistle to the First Thessalonians, in 50 CE.  For later writings see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_epistles.   

Paul wrote many letters in the New Testament and there are other documents attributed to Paul or his small group. All the works that eventually became incorporated into the New Testament are believed to have been written no later than around 150 AD, and a small minority of scholars would date them to no later than 70 AD,  80 AD, or at 96 AD [footnotes omitted.] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament.

Christians also relied on the Old Testament Torah, the Prophets and other early writings of the Jews attributed to Moses that predated the New Testament.  Prof. Bart D. Ehrman of the University of North Carolina says that Christianity was both missionary and exclusivistic.  That is, early Christians promoted Christianity and they believed this was the only true religion.  But there were several competing theologies that occupied leaders of different Christian churches in separate places.

Christianity struggled under several theological banners for about 367 years until Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria put forth a letter setting forth a list of the books found acceptable for the cannon of the New Testament.

The history of the early Christian Church was not written until Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea, described many events in ten small books, now combined in a modern English translation, Eusebius The Church History[4]  by Paul L. Maier, covering the period from the crucifixion and resurrection up to 324 CE.  Maier describes the Christian relationship with the Roman Empire and other detractors, and writes about “internal attacks by renegade religionists who tried to seduce the saints through arcane distortions of doctrine or coral them into schismatic groups that foreshadowed contemporary cults.” Maier at 9.

Islam

Islam started small and grew fast.  Mohammad (spellings vary) was born about 570 CE and died in 632 CE.  The beginning of the movement to Medina from Mecca, called the hijra, was in 618 CE. 

Uthman ibn Affan ordered the writing of a standard version of the Qu’ran book for Islam in 650 to 656 CE.  This was done because pockets of Islamic settlements relied on different parts of the writings.  Mohammad claimed that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in visions over many years and the Qu’ran was made up of these various writings and assembled in different orders.  Some of these writings were made before, during and after the hijra.

During the second Caliphate, Umar I, between 633 and 643 CE, conquered the Levant, Eqypt, Cyrenka, Tripoliania, Ferran, and Eastern Anatolia.  In a few more years, Islam became the dominant political power in Spain, Italy, Gaul, the Greek coasts and islands.  Christians served in the Muslim navy to defeat the Byzantine navy in the Battle of Masts in 655 CE.  The Islamic State expanded using war power and fear.   This kind of expansion continued until the turn of the millennium when the Christian Pope began recruiting fighters to counteract the Muslim gains.

Islam was both missionary and exclusivistic.   They promoted Islam and they believed Allah was the only true God.

In the chapter on Lessons from Muhammad’s Migration Migration[5], Solomon and Maqdisi described how “migration is ultimately a conquest and not a migration,” writing:

To understand the point of ‘conquest’ as opposed to ‘migration’ please refer to: “The Islamisation of Britian and what must be done to prevent it by Colin Dye (Pilcrow Press Report September 2007). This report gives practical example of how Muslims have implemented the principles of tamkeen and I’dad in the conquest of the U.K. with gradual progression towards the establishment of an Islamic supremacy, while the host society has remained unaware and all the time thinking that requests have only been for a few religious and cultural needs. In a democratic society the types of requests are seen as valid and legitimate and are ultimately granted.”

 

Religions are All the Same

A primary question this topic should confront head on is the argument that all religions are the same. Christianity fits the definition of a religion, but Islam is different because it has multiple goals.  Down deep can one answer the question, “Are Allah and Jesus the Same God?”

This is a question that is raised again and again by some of the reference books appended to this article.  The debate is sometimes like the debate about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. 

My reading has convinced me that Allah is much different than Jesus.  My conclusion is to have faith in Jesus.  Muslims may argue immediately by pointing out a counter argument that the calligraphy on the Dome of the Rock[6] states: “God has no Son” among other things[7]  The sameness argument continues that if a Christian cannot read the language of the Muslims, they cannot possibly understand Islam.

The same God argument recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 2016 in an article by Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University. He summarized:

“Islam and Christianity both affirm that there is one God, creator and judge, who speaks through prophets, whose words are written down in scripture. 

   Still, there are not two paths up the same mountain.  Christians do not believe in the divine inspiration of the Quran.  Muslims do not believe that Jesus is an incarnation of God.”[8]

Everyone is not on the same page.  Malaysia is one of the largest Muslim countries. The Islamisation of Mayalsia started 42 years after the death of Mohammad.[9] The Wall Street Journal reported[10] in 2013 that “worries over the religious freedoms of minorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia are growing after Malaysia’s appeals court ruled … that a Roman Catholic publication can’t use the term ‘Allah’ to refer to the Christian God, despite the widespread use among Malay-speaking Christians.” 

The three-judge panel ruled “to allow the Herald newspaper to use the word “Allah” would have been unconstitutional, said Haniff Khatri Abdulla, one of the lawyers of the six Islamic State Councils that oppose the use of the word by non-Muslims.”

Summary of Time Lines

Christianity was founded first.  Jesus worked with 12 disciples, 70 special followers and 500 others to spread his messages for about three years.  Jesus was crucified on a cross by the Romans after instigation by some of the Jews in Jerusalem.

Paul directed his attention to the gentiles around the Mediterranean Sea. The New Testament was written by many people who were said to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Christianity is a religion of faith, hope, and love.

When asked by a lawyer, the Jesus summarized the greatest commandments this way:

Matthew 22:35-40  New International Version (NIV)[11]

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Footnotes:  Matthew 22:37 Deut. 6:5            Matthew 22:39 Lev. 19:18


Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Christianity does not advocate killing wars against others to expand the faith, but it does accept the duty and responsibility to protect vulnerable people from cruelty and acts of terror.

Islam was founded about 300 years after the New Testament contents was settled. Mohammad fought battles against other countries to subdue tribes and cities to control more territory and make slaves for Islam.   Mohammad died in 632 CE and was succeeded by several Califs, some who died killing off one another.   Thus, Islam is a system of political power that uses terror and fear to grow.  Islam is not what Americans and other Westerners think of as a religion.  Establishing Shariah Law will wipe out citizens’ right under the U.S. Constitution and leave all questions for Islamic courts of so-called experts.

These two competing organizations each have founders, doctrines and books, but they have wholly different purposes. 

Both are missionary and exclusivistic.  But look again at the timelines.  What else happened in the 300 year gap?  


"Christians and Jews in the First Six Centuries" is the title of a chapter written by James H. Charlesworth, now a professor at Princeton, in a composite review by nine authors.  It describes how the early Christians and Jews were together on many issues and how and why they moved apart in their religious practices.  Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of their Origins and Early Development, 2nd Ed.  ISBN: 978-1-935335-52-8. (2011) Biblical Archeology Society.

Was Islam patterned on Christianity with a left-hand twist?  Does history tell the truth?

My answer to the question in the title of this article is Americans have as little as 30 years if we do nothing and as many as thousands of years if they become educated and follow established moral and governmental principles as the Founders did in the middle of the 18th century.  Keeping a Republic where personal rights matter requires better educated voters than we have on June 8, 2016 when this article was posted here.

[On March 31, 2017, the Wall Street Journal at A2 reported on the Congressional Budget Office annual report on long term federal spending.  CBO said the federal debt has doubled since 2008 to about 77 percent of gross domestic product and this would reach 150 percent of GDP in 2047 – thirty years from now.  This means this financial factor will culminate at about the same time as the growth of the world Muslim population and the growth of the number of Muslims in the United States reaches the voting factor.  Turning back ruinous spending will require the current government to clamp down on spending starting soon.]

 Read the books listed below and learn more.

Another small book that gives points of view on this subject.

The Next Nightmare: How Political Correctness Will Destroy America by Peter Feaman, Dunham Books, 2012, Amazon.com

 

Other Books on Muslim Terrorism Read By William J. Skinner

Winter 2003- Summer 2004 Year

Terror in the Name of God, Jessica Stern, Harper Collins, 2003

Persecution, David Limbaugh, Regnery, 2003

Ghost Wars, Steve Coll, Penguin Press, 2004

Holy War, Peter Bergan, Free Press, 2001

American Jihad, Steven Emerson, Free Press, 2002

American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips, Viking, 2004

The Islamic Threat, John Esposito, Oxford, 1999

Unholy War: Terrorism in the Name of Islam, John Esposito,  Oxford, 2002

What’s Right With Islam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, Harper, SF 2004

Preachers of Hate, Kenneth Timmerman, Crown Forum, 2003

9/11 Commission Report, 2004

Fall 2004 to Winter 2005

 Intelligence Matters:  The CIA, Bob Graham, Random House, 2004

 Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War On Terror, Richard Clarke, Free Press 2004

Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror, Richard Miniter,  Regnery Publishing, Inc. 2004

The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World’s Fastest Growing Religion, Robert Morey,  Harvest House Publishers, 1992

Islam & Christianity:  The Koran vs. The Bible, A comparison of the Christian Scriptures with the Teachings of Muhammad, Diane S. Dew, 2001, http://dianedew.com/islam.htm

Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran, Kenneth R. Timmerman,  Crown Forum, 2005

Who Is This Allah, G.J. O. Moshay,  Dorchester House Publications, 1994

Islam in the Crucible: Can It Pass The Test?, Riccoldo da Montecroce & Martin Luther,   Trans. By Thomas C. Pfotenhauer, Lutheran News, Inc., 2002

Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?  Timothy George, Ph.D., founding dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and an executive editor at Christianity Today, Zondervan, 2002

 The World of Byzantium, Prof. Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University, 24 lectures, The Teaching Company, 2001

The Life and Religion of Mohammed: The Prophet of Arabia, Rev. J. L. Menezes, Roman Catholic Books, originally published 1912 (no copyright notice in this edition)

More Than A Prophet: An Insider’s Response to Muslim Beliefs About Jesus & Christianity, Emir Fethi Caner and Ergun Mehmet Caner, Kregel Publications, 2003

The Quranic Treasures, Khurram Murad, The Islamic Foundation, 1997

What Every Christian Should Know About ISLAM, Ruqaiyyah Maris Maqsood, The Islamic Foundation, 2002

Fall and Winter 2006

Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror, Douglas Farah, Broadway Books, 2004

The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, Robert Spencer, Regnery, 2006

Religion of Peace?  Islam’s War Against The World, Gregory M. Spencer, World Ahead Publishing, 2006 

Spring  and Summer 2007

Feaman, Peter, Wake Up, America!, Woodmont Publishers, Inc., 2007

Answering Islam: Countering Terror with Truth, Nadira, Wahlid Phares, James White & Robert Reymond, Coral Ridge Ministries, 2007

Fall and Winter 2007

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, The West, and the Future of the Holy City,  Dore Gold, Regenry Publishing, Inc. 2007

The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, Dinesh D’Souza, Doubleday, 2007

Honor Killing, Kenneth R. Timmerman, Middle-East Data Project, Inc, 2007

Winter 2009

The Mystery of Islam: A Christian Perspective, Gene Little, Crown of Life Ministries, 2003, 332 pp

The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations, James H. Hutson, Ed., Princeton Univ, Press, 2005,  244 pp

Winter 2012-2013

St. Peter’s Bones, Kenneth R. Timmerman, Caseopia Press, 2011, 266 pp and annex

ISBN: 978-0-9797229-1-2

Spring  2015

Shariah: The Threat to America – An Exercise in Competitive Analysis, Report of Team B II, Center for Security Policy, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9822947, 351 pp

The Secure Freedom Strategy: A Plan for Victory Over the Global Jihad Movement, The Tiger Team, Center for Security Policy, January 16, 2015, www.securefreedom.org. In March 2015 this was available on www.amazon.com

Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America.  Ann Corcoran, Center for Security Policy, March 30, 2015, 78 pages, this is available on www.amazon.com



[1] Biblical Archeology Review, Biblical Archeology Society, Washington, D.C.

[2] ANM Publishers, Charlottesville, VA, ISBN: 978—0-9794929-5-2, 2009

[3] http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population/

[4] Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. 1999, ISBN 0-8254-3328-2

[5] Footnote 2, Ibid, p. 73

[6] The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna. The Dome of the Rock is now one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture. It has been called "Jerusalem's most recognizable landmark," and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with two nearby Temple Mount structures, the Western Wall, and the "Resurrection Rotunda" in the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces. The octagonal plan of the structure may also have been influenced by the Byzantine Church of the Seat of Mary built between 451 and 458 on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  http://www.bing.com/search?q=dome+of+the+rock&form=PRUSEN&pc=EUPP_UE07&mkt=en-us&refig=a7f35ebd7a524ff5b78cd272e749269f&pq=doe+of+the+rock&sc=8-15&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=&cvid=a7f35ebd7a524ff5b78cd272e749269f

[7] The inscriptions on the Dome - with a great amount of repetition - are quotations from the Quran that attest to the unity and supremacy of Allah and repeatedly attack the concept of the Trinity of Christianity.

These inscriptions are seven hundred and thirty four feet long in all, amongst the lengthiest inscriptions in the world. In fact it acts as an important item of propaganda - both politically and theologically - for the newly formed Arab/Muhammadan polity. It declares the supremacy of 'Islam' over that of its rival Christianity.   http://inthenameofallah.org/Dome%20of%20the%20Rock.html

[8] WSJ, January 8, 2016, p A9

[9] ANM Publishers, Charlottesville, VA, ISBN: 978—0-9794929-5-2, 2009 at p 86.

[10] WSJ, October 15, 2013, p A13

[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22:35-40&version=NIV

Revised March 29, 2017  and April 5, 2017