Three Religions...One God?

By Michael Carpenter

Though these three belief systems intertwine throughout history, they are in fact extremely different in both basic structure and ultimately, in deity. Many people have  claimed  over  the  years  that  the  God  of  Judeo-Christianity  is  in  fact  the same god of Islam. However,

• Language: English
• Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
• Release date: May 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647533458

Michael Carpenter

Dr. Michael Carpenter is a nationally certified Olweus Bullying Prevention Program trainer and has worked with public and private schools for more than 30 years. He travels throughout the country to run workshops on bullying awareness.

Book preview

Three Religions…One God?

Copyright © 2020 by Michael Carpenter. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of URLink Print and Media.

1603 Capitol Ave., Suite 310 Cheyenne, Wyoming USA 82001

1-888-980-6523 | [e-mail]

URLink Print and Media is committed to excellence in the publishing industry.

Book design copyright © 2020 by URLink Print and Media. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-64753-344-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64753-345-8 (Digital)

23.04.20

Contents

Introduction

God and Me

9/11

The Beginning

The Beginning of God’s People, Israel

Jesus

The Old Testament Character of God

Muhammad

The Qur’an/The Koran

Satan

The War of Ideologies

Summary

Introduction

Truth is a word that can bring relief, strength, confidence, and encouragement to some, while it can be hostile to those that oppose truth because of what it reveals about them. When three religions are allowed to speak for themselves then exposure is inevitable. That same exposure as it is being brought to light will cause some not to like what has been presented and create resentment as well as hostility as some want to keep truth hidden. After all they are blind as well. Unless truth is brought to light and viewed by all nothing positive can be accomplished. If truth remains in darkness and hidden from view then deceit can continue to reign and a downward spiral of society and death will continue. Nothing good will occur. It is for the reason of truth that this book must be read.

My intentions of writing this book were to determine whether the God of Judaism and Christianity is the same God as that of Islam. While researching it became evident that God and Allah were two different Gods. Verses compared to suras painted a different character picture of God and Allah. In order for them to be the same they would take on a schizophrenic personality, which would indicate that they are not reliable Gods. Therefore I concluded that they are two separate Gods. The realization that God and Allah were two separate deities became less important as I discovered the problems that are confronting not only the United States but also all infidel countries of the world.

While going down this path of discovery I came to some striking realizations about Islam that everyone needs to be aware of. The rhetoric that is coming forth from our news media as well as some in public office is that Islam is a peaceful religion. Within a short amount of reading of the Koran it becomes obvious that those people espousing Islam as a peaceful religion have not read the Koran. They are naive, as I was prior to reading the Koran. I too believed that Islam was a peaceful religion, because all other religions are peaceful in their approach to life and humanity. The peaceful existence that many refer to is only meant for Muslims or likeminded people, believers of Allah, as presented by the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. A key point within the Islamic religion is its central belief that there is only one god and that god is Allah, therefore they must give all peoples of the world the option to accept Allah, or be taxed, or killed. The basic belief is that Islam must not only supplant all religions of the world with itself, but all peoples of the world must become Muslims, pay a tax and live as sub servants to Muslims, or die. We are infidels, non-believers of Allah, the god of Islam. Total dominance of the world is Islam’s objective and it is evident in free countries around the world as turmoil and a shifting of governmental policies toward Islam are being made. While some will look at shifting policies as being good as they try to appease the Muslims within their boarders, they must be aware of what they are inviting into their countries and the changes that will soon be coming their way as Islam makes its subtle move to take over their country.

Islam is not just a religion; it is a government as well. All of life for a Muslim is defined in the Koran, Hadith, Sunnah, and Sharia Law. So when Muslims move into a country they are on a jihad to change that country into accepting Islam as its religion as well as government. Politicians that reject this truth are setting their country up for a major turn over of political power. The change over may not be fast nor in their lifetime but it will happen as Islam gets a stronger hold within the political process of that country. Islam is a very patient and deliberate moving religion. One only needs to look at the central theme of the Koran to realize Islam’s goal and objective.

God and Me

When I was younger I did not believe in God nor did I believe in any kind of Supreme Being. Life had been difficult for me from birth to adulthood. It seems that as a child I couldn’t do anything right and received spankings and punishment for everything that I did or didn’t do. There was no love in my childhood. This seemed to form my opinion about God, and life in general. I was christened a Catholic and later baptized a Baptist; at no time did I believe in God. I don’t know that I believed in the Big Bang theory, which leads to Darwinism, I just didn’t believe in anything.

My parents were of mixed faiths. My dad’s side of the family was Catholic that is why I was christened a Catholic. My mother’s side of the family was Baptist, so in my teen years I was baptized into the Baptist religion.

My earliest recollection of religion was that of attending a Baptist summer school. I was around 7 or 8 years old. I don’t recall their teachings at the time. We would sing from the hymnals and later would listen to a teaching service. Then we would break for cookies and cool aid. In the afternoon we would have a shop class in which I made a small magazine holder out of plywood. I recall enjoying that, I suppose that it was because I was working with my hands and making something.

After my parents divorced, at my age of 10. As my mother and I were driving route 3 from St Louis, MO, to Paducah, KY to start our new life, I was told that I no longer belonged to my mother or father and if I had any problems that I should contact the judge. Now at the age of 10, I’m thinking that I don’t even know the judge let alone how to contact him. I recognized that I was on my own, so I decided to set a life plan for my survival. Basically I decided that I would get a high school education and then join the military to meet my obligation to my country, and then I would get a job.

During summer vacations I would return to St Louis to live with my dad. Actually I lived at my grandmothers with my dad and aunt. Since my dad was a drinker we would spend time in bars and nightclubs. I would play the bar games, pool, shuffle board, and pin ball machines. I enjoyed that part of it, but after awhile people would start getting drunk. I would get a little tired of being around them, so I would ride a streetcar or bus home, depending on where we were.

In the summer time we usually had a family BBQ at one of the swimming pools in the area. That was always a fun time because I would get with my aunts, uncles, and cousins to hang out for a while. My dad’s side of the family were a fun group of relatives, city dwellers. Not that my mothers side weren’t, it’s just that they were spread out in the rural areas on farms and so we really didn’t see family members that often. Periodically, we would get together for a country Sunday lunch. It was good cooking and good eating. The women cooked from scratch. The food came fresh from the garden and the chicken pen.

I lived with my mother during the school year. My mother tried to get me involved with the church and in church activities. The problem with Sunday school for me was that it was assumed that everyone there believed and wanted to be there. I didn’t. To start the Sunday school service off each student was expected to add to the prayer that had been started by the leader. For me that was a problem because I did not know what to say or what was expected of me, so I would remain silent hoping that the kid next to me would say something in my place. After a couple of Sunday’s like that I decided that this wasn’t for me, so I would go in the front door with my mother and then I would proceed out the side door. I would go to the corner drugstore and kill time until the services were over, then I would go back to the church and pretend that I had performed my Sunday duties.

Eventually, my mother caught on to my playing hooky from church. From then on I had to sit with her in church. I would sit there and listen to the Baptist minister preach about hell fire and damnation, every service. No matter what was being spoken at the beginning of the service it always ended with a hell, fire, and damnation speech. I suppose it was to convince the people that they were no good and were going to hell and they needed to receive Jesus as Lord in their lives, so that they wouldn’t end up in hell. I wonder how many sinners go to church? When I would leave those services I would feel worse than when I came. I often wondered why people would go to church if that is all that the church is about, making people feel like they are a low form of life. What kind of God is this? He wasn’t for me, that’s for sure.

When I was fifteen years old I was having a poker party at my mother’s house. About four friends and myself were playing poker on the living room floor. There is a knock at the door. My mother opens the door and lets this evangelist into the house. Later I realized that my mother had invited him over specifically for me. He begins preaching to my friends and me. I’m thinking what kind of idiot is this. I’m playing cards and out of the blue this guy is preaching to me. Out of respect for my mother we quit playing cards and listened to this guy, actually we didn’t have much choice. He is telling me that he is in town for one week and wants me to come to church tomorrow night to hear his service. I want to get back to my card game so I agree to be there.

The next night my mother and I walked down the aisle to seats near the front of the church, because the place was packed. We were able to get an aisle seat. Initially, I’m thinking this is good we’ll be able to get out quicker. I didn’t know what my mother had in mind for me.

The service began with the customary hymnal songs. The pastor spoke a few words and introduced the evangelist. The evangelist was up to his best of presenting a good old Baptist hell fire, and damnation sermon. I don’t remember anything about it. At the end of the service we were instructed to bow our heads and raise our hands if we want to receive Jesus. Now I did not raise my hand. After the customary raising of the hands, it’s time to step forward in a leap of faith and go to the front of the church and make a commitment to God. It was at this point that my mother pushed me out into the aisle. Now I had a choice I could have made a scene or I could play the game and go forward. I played the game.

I went forward and ended up standing in the line of about twenty or so people. We stood there and many from the congregation came forward and shook our hands and congratulated us on the decision that we had made. I’m thinking, I can’t wait until this is over with. This event led to my being baptized in a week or two. I won’t go into those details, other than to say that I did not believe in God nor did I want to do what I was doing. As the saying goes A man has gotta do, what a man has gotta do. I was just trying to appease my mother.

These events were the last of my religious experiences until I was much older. Since then the only time that I went to church was for a wedding or a funeral. I had no desire to see the inside of a church. My impression of church was that it was a torturous place to be. I suppose that it was then that I became an atheist or at least an agnostic. I really didn’t form a strong opinion about the origins of man or whether there was a God or not. I just knew that going to church wasn’t for me.

I know that I had been very difficult to raise, because I had a mind of my own and I ran the streets at night and did pretty much what I wanted to do. My mother would give me verbal tongue-lashings that seemed like whips with barbs that would wrap around my mind. I think that she was frustrated from trying to raise me in a manner that she felt appropriate. So at the age of 16, I shouldn’t have been surprised to receive a Dear John letter while I was visiting my dad in St Louis. She probably couldn’t figure out how to discipline or control me, so it made her decision easier, especially since her boyfriend and I didn’t get along. Our personalities clashed frequently and the last time that we fought, I ended up chasing him with a baseball bat. My mother made a choice after that. At the time it hurt, but I had been removing emotions from my life ever since I was ten years old, so I was able to move on. I didn’t realize how cold and emotionally removed from life I had become. Feeling that way lasted until I was 37 years old.

When I joined the service I had to select a religion so I chose Protestant. At the time it seemed the best option. I went into the military 2 days after I graduated from high school, August 17th, 1961. I failed English and History in my senior year, so I had to go to summer school to get my high school diploma. Obviously I wasn’t the best student, I just wanted to get by. Initially, I wanted to join the Army but their quotas were met through September. I wanted to get this military obligation started and behind me. It was peacetime so I thought that I would join the Air Force, perhaps I could learn a profession that would help me get a job when I got of the service. That was the plan and it seems to have worked.

The militaries objective in basic training is to break a person down mentally and then build them back up. In those days they had it down pat and it worked. We were taught to respect authority, all communication started with Sir and ended with Sir. We learned self-discipline, self-control, proper hygiene, and to work as a team. Personally, I think that every male should be required to be in the military for at least 2 years, preferably four years. Females should be on a volunteer basis. There is camaraderie that people experience in the military that is unparalleled in civilian society. The friends and companionship that are developed there are closer than any friendship than one can experience anywhere else. The reason is that it’s us against the world. When you’re in the service, your ready for the challenge, your young, your strong, and your wanting adventure. When you get out of basic training, your mindset is bring it on, whatever it is. Needless to say, I have the highest respect for our military, and I think that more should be done by our government and veterans administration in the form of educational, medical, and financial benefits.

Right now our country is supportive of the military because society has a need, but during peace times the attitude is completely different. I recall being stationed in Amarillo, Texas, in 1961. We called it a hellhole. The winters are cold and the hawk has nothing to stop it as it blows across the flat lands. At that time the citizens of Amarillo disliked the military. For sport they would drive through town calling us names, flipping us off, and throw things at us. One night they crossed the line when a carload of civilians beat up a couple of airmen. As word spread we gathered and marched from one end of town to the other end of town looking for civilians along the way. Afterwards it was rumored that the town would be put off limits for the second time, but the leadership of the town didn’t want to loose the money that the military spent there, so they struck a deal that they would do a better job of controlling their civilians. That’s not to say that everyone treated us poorly, there were some friendly people.

A little story: Three of us were walking the streets of Amarillo around midnight, in 3 or 4 inches of snow, it was cold, the hawk was blowing, snow snakes were biting, and we were bored. A man stops his car by us and asked us if we wanted to go jackrabbit hunting. We talked it over and decided to take him up on it. Initially, we were concerned that he might take us out and shoot us, but we had a couple of soda bottles, we figured that there were three of us and we could overpower him if he got a little weird. The guy took us out on some country roads and as we approached jackrabbits, they would freeze in the headlights. We would get out and shoot them. We did this until 2 or 3 in the morning. The guy turned out to be OK. It was a good experience.

When we got involved in Viet Nam, I realized that I should have waited and joined the Army, so I did the next best thing and volunteered to go to Viet Nam. I had been volunteering to go over seas my whole time that I was in the service. I think that the military has a policy that if you volunteer for something that you want; then the military won’t let you have it. That is why I spent my time at Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas. At the time it was a SAC (Strategic Air Command) base. I have many stories, but I’ll move on.

I was discharged from the Air Force on August 16th, 1965. I had four jobs before I settled into a job with a company that I eventually retired from. So I met my goals that I had set for myself as a 10-year-old. Fortunately, God had a plan for me as well.

I recall having problems with Darwinism. It just didn’t make sense to me that man could evolve from an ape. If that were the case why are there still apes and monkeys populating their territories? Why didn’t they evolve into various forms of humans? How could one species of apes/monkeys evolve and not the rest? Since every species reproduces in its own kind, why did only one species change its reproduction process and produce out of kind?

I can accept that the species of animals and plants evolve to adjust to their surrounding environment. That is not a drastic change like that of which an ape/monkey would have to go through to become a man, at least the apes/monkeys of today’s world. No, I just had to many doubts about Darwin’s theory of evolution.

While in my twenties I was on one of my typical vacations of camping, fishing, hiking, and enjoying nature. While driving through the Rockies, I decided to pull over at the base of some mountain and hike up one. It was early spring. The sun was out. The temperature was in the 50’s. It was perfect. I proceeded through the brush and trees until I reached a section of slabs of rocks. I was able to climb up on them and then jump from slab to slab while going up. I found a nice big slab that I could lay on and look out over a little valley that had a creek flowing through it. It was very peaceful. The sun provided enough warmth to make the temperature comfortable.

As I looked at the water flowing down hill meandering through the woods until it disappeared, I began to think of how perfect the world is made. Without man the earth could live forever. The water that flows through the earth provides life for all that it comes in contact with. It carries the nutrients that the plants and trees need. The water provides a habitat for fish and other animals. It seems to be the key to life. As I thought more about the water I realized that it has been around since the beginning of time. Water that dinosaurs and other creatures have drank and passed through their bodies is still around today, well the components of water. I’m drinking that same water. The evaporation process cleanses it and passes it on for others to use, incredible!

As trees, plants, and creatures die, their remains decompose and replenish the earth with nutrients that are necessary to produce new life. I thought of how perfect this life cycle is.

Then I turned my focus to the human body. The blood that flows through my body is in parallel with the water that flows through the earth. As blood is pumped through my body, it too carries nutrients to all parts of my body to provide life to the cells in my body. My body is like a manufacturing plant that processes the food that I eat and water that I drink. Doing so provides growth and new life for my body. My hair and nails continually grow to the point that I have to trim them back if I want to maintain a clean look about myself. I suppose that