Monday, February 5, 2007

He IS the Truth


Dear Muslim Brother Rehman,

Thanks for sending me your message for Muslims only, the prayer you composed, and your open letter to Osama bin Laden. Your writings are admirable and in many places come very close to the truth of Jesus Christ. You must be very brave to speak out like this among your own people. You run the risk of being killed for your message.

I love the Muslim people, but I do not love the religion of Islam. I also do not love the religion of Christianity. There are times when the Christian religion acts as an oppressor of its own people and of other peoples. I am a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, which is a peace-loving form of Christianity, but even the Greek church has its faults in allowing its people to remain in ignorance of the Word of God (Jesus Christ), and continuing to emphasize the "religion" of Christianity.

I worship God in the temple, but I prove my worship to be genuine by imitating the apostle Paul, who said, "the God I worship spiritually by preaching the Good News…" and by following what James the brother of Jesus said, that "pure, unspoiled religion in the eyes of God our Father is this, coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world."



Jesus Christ is the Truth, He does not just tell us about it. He IS the Truth. When you read the Gospel of John in the Holy Bible you can easily see that the teachings of Jesus are true. You can also easily see that Jesus did not come to start a new religion.

Jesus was and still is a Jew. He is alive now, not like the hidden imam or anything like that, but really alive. He came to break the chains of religion. He came to bring to us the possibility of true union with God.

Yes, God is One, but His Oneness is not merely mathematical unity. God is so completely and perfectly One, so absolutely without a partner, that His Oneness is not changed or diminished by letting His Word (Jesus Christ) shine out as Light to the world of men, or by letting His Holy Spirit warm us and change us, mere humans, into the children of God, living in Him, joining in His Oneness while remaining forever truly ourselves.

This is what Christianity should be all about, not what passes for Christianity in the world, churches and religious groups fighting each other blindly.

Respecting you, dear brother, and your boldness in speaking out from inside the Ummah to your Muslim brothers, I still welcome you to know the Truth of God, that is, Jesus Christ, son of Mary, the Living One, the Word of God through whom all things were made in heaven, on earth and everywhere, and in whom all live and move and have being. I invite you to get a copy of the Holy Bible, and read what Jesus Himself has said and done, and see for yourself who is and who is not a prophet of God.

Go with God, dear brother, and may the One who made you find you and bring you into His Kingdom.

Romanós



Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again."
John 3:3 (NIV)

1 comment:

Randy Hurst said...

I hear the echos of the early church father's preaching and evangelizing in your words. Thank you for reminding those that may hold a "to the death" zeal for their Allah the way to know THE GOD through whom it's worth lovingly living now and forever.

Randy