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Which Religion is True?

Chapter 24

Instructions on Living in Various Religions

Since the Bible is inspired by the supreme Creator God, we would expect it to be a complete instruction manual for mankind. We should find detailed instructions for humanity on how to live. And that is exactly what we find.

About one third of the Bible is history. Another one third contains instructions on how to live for individuals as well as laws for orderly governing of society within nations. It basically contains a constitution by which a nation should be governed. Then about another one third of the Bible contains prophecy.

Prophecy enabled us to prove that the Bible is indeed the true inspired word of the Creator. It also has foretold the immediate future as a warning for all humans to repent of their sins if they want to escape the soon coming catastrophic events alive with God’s help.

The Bible has precise, compact and yet comprehensive instructions in the form of the Ten Commandments on how individuals should live. No other religion has such precise instructions. One has to read through hundreds of pages of other religions to develop one’s own instructions on how the god of that religion wants its adherents to live. In addition the Bible contains statutes and judgments on how the Law should be applied and justice done within the nation. Other religions contain no such statutes and judgments.

Without such clear instructions one is not able to decide what is good and what is evil. That is why one sees more lawlessness among adherents of other religions than nations that follow Christianity. There is more rule of law among Christian nations than other nations. Only recently the existence of the hostile nation consisting of German masqueraders in Christian nations has changed that because these masqueraders under Satan’s guidance have tried their best to seduce Christian nations away from the rule of Law.

Bible covers about 1,500 years of detailed history of the nation of Israel, though it also contains a very brief history of the ancient world as well since the creation of Adam and Eve. This length of history enables us to evaluate how following God’s instructions benefits individuals and nations, and how disobeying God’s instructions hurts them. No other religion contains such length of history. So we are unable to evaluate whether following the instructions in those religions help or hurt individuals or nations.

Details of the lives of great heroes of the Bible in its history portion and God’s words through the prophets give us examples on how to apply God’s instructions in our lives. We can find many precedents in the Bible on how we should act when faced with certain circumstances. Other religions do contain similar information, but not in as comprehensive a manner as does the Bible. Thus we see that the Bible is a much superior and complete instruction manual than the holy books of any other religion.

However, we have concluded that the words in the holy books of all other religions are inspired by the diabolically evil Satan the devil. Therefore we should find not beneficial but harmful instructions in them on how to live. We will not go into a detailed analysis of all the instructions contained in the holy books of other religions on how to live. It is not necessary since they are all religions originated by the devil in order to deceive humanity. There is no point in wasting time to critically analyze each of the instructions to learn whether they are beneficial or harmful. But a few of the damaging instructions will now be pointed out for illustrative purposes.

Reason to Reject False Religions

Only one religion is the true religion which has to be the one based on the Bible because only the God of the Bible has given us proof through fulfilled prophecy that He is the Almighty. All other religions have failed the test. They are all works of the ‘god of this world’ which is Satan the devil. So they offer a false salvation. It is pure fiction. Such salvation is a lie. It does not exist.

With the salvation all these religions also provide a path to this salvation. Since the salvation does not exist means that the path to salvation offered by them leads to destruction, and not salvation. That is why all the false religions of the world should be rejected. The devil’s nature has been explained earlier. He is a diabolical, scheming, cunning crafty evil liar. He does everything to deceive in order to destroy. One of the ways he seeks to destroy humanity is by causing divisions, and religion is one of the chief ways he uses to divide humanity. It has been said that more wars have been fought in the name of religion than any other cause. That is why Satan has spawned so many different religions. More religions divide humanity more and more. He is the cause behind all the multiple denominations even within religions. This causes more fighting and war among and within religions. Witness the Sunni and Shia divide in Islam, Catholic and Protestant divide in Christianity.

As long as Satan is around humanity will never have unity in religion. But we should at least be able to agree on which holy book is the inspired word of God. Only the Bible has given us that proof. So we should be able to agree that only a religion based on the Bible can be the true religion.

For this reason we should also be able to reject mainstream Christianity in the form of Catholic and Protestant denominations because all their beliefs and practices are not entirely based on the Bible. The Trinity, Christmas, Easter, Halloween are words not found in the Bible. But those are some of mainstream Christianity’s main beliefs. Only God’s true Church uses the Bible as sole authority for basing all its doctrines, beliefs and practices. We know that humanity at large will not accept this conclusion. But God’s Church is declaring to the world through the word of prophecy that Jesus Christ is soon returning to earth to lift the veil that Satan has put on the eyes of mankind so that they will be able to see which the true religion is.

Now for illustrative purposes let’s see various harmful instructions in various religions to show that these religions are the works of the devil.

Islam

There are several glaring problems with Islam as a religion. It promises salvation in the form of a paradise, but only for male adherents. The Koran is completely silent on salvation for women. Thus half of humanity in Islam has no hope for salvation.

Status of women is lower class in Islam and is well known. Hadiths (sayings or acts attributed to Mohammad by his companions) have horrible things to say about women. We will not quote them because of their doubtful origins. But here is what the Koran has to say about treatment to be meted when the man or woman fear rebelliousness in their mate:

[4.34] Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places [desert them sexually] and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.

[4.128] And if a woman fears ill usage or desertion on the part of her husband, there is no blame on them, if they effect a reconciliation between them, and reconciliation is better…”

Here the Koran prescribes beating and sexual desertion if a man detects rebelliousness in his wife. On the other hand if a man mistreats a wife or she fears desertion, then they are advocated to reconcile. How impractical this advice is in real life. If a man is inclined to mistreat or desert his wife he would make it as hard as possible for his wife to be reconciled with him. The woman really has no recourse. The Bible on the other hand allows temporary mutual separation to allow time to pass before attempting reconciliation.

Verse 4:34 allows men to desert their wives sexually when they detect rebelliousness in them, but women are not permitted to do so if they are mistreated or fear desertion. The following verses are so interpreted by the Muslim scholars.

[26.165] What! do you [meaning women] come to the males from among the creatures 166 And leave what your Lord has created for you of your wives? Nay, you are a people exceeding limits.”

Then verse [30.21]: “And one of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them…” is interpreted to mean that women were created for men’s sake and they must yield whenever the husband desires his wife. If she does not do so then she is an oppressor.

The Bible has quite a different view of the status of women in marriage. They are equal in all respects as concerns sexual matters. Thus if Islam had its way, half of humanity would be condemned to a frustrating lower class status for life.

The sharia law in Islam permits horrible punishment for minor crimes such as cutting off of hands for theft.

[5.38] And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.”

Do the religious leaders who advocate bodily harm for thefts realize what the thief will have to go through for the rest of his life? Just imagine the hardship you will go through if one or both your hands were cut off. The Bible on the other hand never prescribes bodily harm for property theft. It requires compensation of property with property though the thief must as punishment compensate with more property than the worth of what he stole. This is described in Exodus 22:1-5:

“1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double. 5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.”

God of the Bible certainly knows the worth of the hand for the man or woman whereas the ‘god of this world’ only seeks to inflict as much pain and suffering as he can on humans through cruelty practiced in the sharia law of Islam.

Islam is also the most violent religion in the world, except perhaps for the religion of the Germans. Islam advocates ‘holy Jihad’ which is converting adherents of other religions to Islam by force. If they refuse then they are to be murdered.

It is the existence of such instructions in Islam that make it a violent religion. And most of the victims of Muslim violence are other Muslims because of the mindset created by the instructions in Islam on how to live. We see Islam in practice in the conflict in Syria, Iraq, Libya, creation of the Islamic State and other places around the world.

The author believes that Satan has already revealed to the Germans that the Koran is his cunningly crafted lie. But they will not openly reveal to the adherents of Islam. But they don’t need to rely on the Germans to learn this truth. It has been convincingly proved in this book.

Hinduism

In Hinduism salvation is being freed from the cycle of birth death and rebirth to have one’s immortal soul merged with the supreme Soul. Here is the path advocated by Lord Krishna to attain that goal:

Chapter 12 p. 34: “But they who thus fix their attention on the Absolute and Impersonal encounter greater hardships, for it is difficult for those who possess a body to realise Me as without one. Verily, those who surrender their actions to Me, who muse on Me, worship Me and meditate on Me alone, with no thought save of Me, O Arjuna! I rescue them from the ocean of life and death, for their minds are fixed on Me. Then let thy mind cling only to Me, let thy intellect abide in Me; and without doubt thou shalt live hereafter in Me alone.

“But if thou canst not fix thy mind firmly on Me, then, My beloved friend, try to do so by constant practice. And if thou are not strong enough to practice concentration, then devote thyself to My service, do all thine acts for My sake, and thou shalt still attain the goal. And if thou art too weak even for this, then seek refuge in union with Me, and with perfect self-control renounce the fruit of thy action. Knowledge is superior to blind action, meditation to mere knowledge, renunciation of the fruit of action to meditation, and where there is renunciation peace will follow.”

Chapter 8, p.22 contains some more instructions on meditation to achieve salvation:

“Whoso meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient...He who leaves the body with mind unmoved and filled with devotion, by the power of his meditation gathering between his eyebrows his whole vital energy, attains the Supreme.

“Now I will speak briefly of the imperishable goal, proclaimed by those versed in the scriptures, which the mystic attains when free from passion, and for which he is content to undergo the vow of continence. Closing the gates of the body, drawing the forces of his mind into the heart and by the power of meditation concentrating his vital energy in the brain; Repeating Om, the Symbol of Eternity, holding Me always in remembrance, he who thus leaves his body and goes forth reaches the Spirit Supreme.”

Chapter 13, p.36: “Renunciation of the delights of sense, absence of pride, right understanding of the painful problem of birth and death, of age and sickness; Indifference, non-attachment to sex, progeny or home, equanimity in good fortune and in bad; Unswerving devotion to Me, by concentration on Me and Me alone, a love for solitude, indifference to social life; Constant yearning for the knowledge of Self, and pondering over the lessons of the great Truth – this is Wisdom, all else ignorance.”

Chapter 6, p.17: “O Arjuna! Renunciation is in fact what is called Right Action. No one can become spiritual who has not renounced all desire…When a man renounces even the thought of initiating action, when he is not interested in sense objects or any results which may flow from his acts, then in truth he understands spirituality…

“The Self of him who is self-controlled, and has attained peace is equally unmoved by heat or cold, pleasure or pain, honor or dishonor. He who desires nothing but wisdom and spiritual insight, who has conquered his senses and who looks with the same eye upon a lump of earth, a stone or fine gold, is a real saint. He looks impartially on all – lover, friend or foe; indifferent or hostile; alien or relative; virtuous or sinful.”

It is fortunate that in India only a few follow such silly nonsense. Most Indians are attached to their wives, children, families and friends. That’s why society keeps functioning. There are only a few half-naked fakirs on the banks of the Ganges river in Benares who practice such asceticism or austerities [such as sitting in front of burning fire or hot coals during the hottest part of summer] and renounce everything and meditate most of the time. They have to survive by begging or the handouts of the common people. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana contain stories of such fakirs gaining boons from the gods to use to punish others and seek vengeance on them. They are even able to use the boons to curse gods and drive them to fear. Of course there has never been any proof of anyone gaining such boons or powers. Such tales exist only the fantasies of the writers of these books.

Another destructive bit of instructions in Hinduism is the caste system and the four-fold division of professions.

Chapter 18, p.50: “O Arjuna! The duties of spiritual teachers, the soldiers, the traders and the servants have all been fixed according to the dominant Quality in their nature. Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, as well as uprightness, knowledge,wisdom and faith in God – these constitute the duty of a spiritual Teacher. Valour, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule – these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature. Agriculture, protection of the cow and trade are the duty of a trader, again in accordance with his nature. The duty of a servant is to serve, and that too agrees with his nature.

“Perfection is attained when each attends diligently to his duty. Listen and I will tell you how it is attained by him who always minds his own duty. Man reaches perfection by dedicating his actions to God, Who is the source of all being, and fills everything.

It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins. The duty that of itself falls to one’s lot should not be abandoned, though it may have its defects. All acts are marred by defects, as fire is obscured by smoke.”

It was probably in reaction to this nonsense that condemned people for all generations into the caste and profession they happened to be assigned to by Cush and Nimrod [who is worshipped as Krishna] or born into that Budhism was born. Later Sikhism also was formed partly in reaction to such oppression and excesses of Hinduism. Can you imagine you and all your future generations being condemned to be cleaners, or cobblers forever? That’s why India did not change for millennia. Fortunately a lot has changed in India over the past 50 years in this regard because of modernization of the economy. British rule helped to break some of this oppression so that a vast majority of Hindus no longer believe in this nonsense. But they still continue to believe in the salvation offered by Krishna. They should realize that Krishna has made tall claims but has not given us a shred of proof that he is the Almighty. His destructive instructions on life that would lead to inaction rather than a vigorous productive life can have come from only the devil and not from the true God.

Sikhism

Sikhism has similar defects as Hinduism because it has borrowed most of its beliefs related to salvation from Hinduism. Its path to salvation is similar. In addition to constant meditation on God and non-attachment to worldly things [a destructive philosophy that leads one to inaction or at least a less than vigorous life], it advocates constantly praising God [which it calls Naam] to attain salvation. It lays a lot of emphasis on recitation from the Guru Granth, their holy book.

Repeating the same words, phrases or standard prayers over and over again are actually condemned in the Bible because they accomplish nothing with God. Matthew 6:7 (NKJV) says, “7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

Another destructive philosophy mentioned in Sikhism is that of pre-ordination, meaning that whatever one does in one’s life is pre-ordained by God. It defeats God’s very purpose in creating humans superior to animals (hence God-plane beings) because they possess mind power with free moral choice. They are not created as robots or with animal instinct. They can choose to do good or evil. This philosophy leads some to not try their hardest to overcome obstacles in their lives. This is stated in the Guru Granth on p.15: “As it is pre-ordained, people speak their words. As it is pre-ordained, they consume their food. As it is pre-ordained, they walk along the way. As it is pre-ordained, they see and hear. As it is pre-ordained, they draw their breath.”

Clearly when the goal, the salvation offered is wrong and does not exist, the prescribed paths to it can lead only to destruction. That is true of Sikhism as well as Hinduism and Islam.

Judaism

The only thing that can be said about Judaism is that they have not recognized their true God. They have not realized that the God of the Old Testament they worship is none other than Jesus Christ. They just need to read Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled to realize that He was indeed the prophesied Messiah who came to take away the sins of the world. But He will soon return as they expect the Messiah to come, in power and great glory to restore Israel to greatness.

Jews have a hazy concept of salvation because it is based only on the Old Testament. But their concept of salvation is not true because it does not explain many of the Old Testament scriptures. Again Satan has cast a veil over the minds of those Jews who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah [Savior].

The Jews, however, have one advantage in that they understand they are required to keep the Law of Moses to the best of their ability. It leads them to become better persons. But they still need to learn to practice the Law with its spiritual intent in addition to the letter of the Law, and apply it with mercy and forgiveness which Jesus brought to mankind. But by virtue of having the right holy book, though only in part, they still have advantages over other religions which are the deception and lies of the ‘god of this world’ in their entirety.

Christianity

Christianity has the most advantages of all religions because it has the true holy book which is inspired by the Almighty God Himself. Therefore they can rely on its every word.

But the great false Church based in Rome has foisted paganism on mainstream Christianity which God condemns in the Bible. Though mainstream Christianity benefits to the extent that it obeys the instruction in the Bible in how to live, it is far from attaining salvation because salvation requires obedience to God. Worshipping God on Sunday when He requires Sabbath observance; keeping pagan festivals that honor pagan gods instead of God’s festivals that picture His plan of salvation for mankind is rebellion against the Creator God. God will not offer salvation to those who are in rebellion against Him. So as far as salvation is concerned, mainstream Christianity is no better off than any of the other religions. The ‘god of this world’ has deceived mainstream Christianity as he has deceived all the other religions.

One of the greatest deception that mainstream Christianity has suffered is that since Christ's sacrifice forgives all sin, we are no longer required to keep the Law, the Ten Commandments. And that belief is the source of much perversion and sin in Christianity.

The Roman Church is also an instrument of the devil to persecute true Christians. The world has had a taste of this persecution through the past 6 resurrections of the “Holy Roman Empire.” The world will soon get its worst taste in the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire.”

Revelation 13:11 states: “11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.” The dragon is none other than Satan. This beast in prophecy has been identified as the Roman Church. This verse clearly identifies the Roman Church as an instrument of the devil. That’s why it has shed so much blood in its history. It is about to cause the worst bloodshed ever in the history of mankind in the next few years.

There is Hope for Mankind

From the state of the religions of the world that we have discussed, hope for salvation for mankind appears to be bleak. One may be tempted to conclude that the ‘god of this world’ is a very powerful competitor to the supreme God. But that is far far from the truth.

The great news is that God has a perfect plan to make salvation available to all of humanity, and most will qualify to receive it. There is one power that the ‘god of this world’, Satan the devil does not possess, that only the true God possesses. And that is the power to kill and then to make alive.

God says in Deuteronomy 39, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”

God’s great plan of salvation for all mankind is pictured in His seven annual holy days (all mentioned in Leviticus 23) which only the true Church of God keeps and understands. Mainstream Christianity is completely blinded to this plan. Here is what the seven annual Holy Days picture:

Passover pictures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all of humanity’s sins. Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the putting away of leaven, a type of sin, completely out of our lives. It means striving to become sinless. This is necessary before we can receive salvation. The feast of Pentecost or firstfruits shows that God is calling only the firstfruits, a relatively small number of people into His Church in the first 6,000 years of human history to offer them salvation. God is allowing Satan to blind the rest of humanity to the knowledge of salvation for the time being. (That’s why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”).

The feast of Trumpets pictures the return of Jesus Christ to earth to set up God’s kingdom, and the resurrection of the firstfruits to eternal life to then assist Jesus Christ to rule in His Kingdom. The Day of Atonement pictures the putting away of Satan and the demons so that they can deceive the nations no more. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures God’s kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. Then the seventh festival called the Last Great Day pictures the resurrection of all humans who were ever born and died without knowing God’s plan of salvation and receiving their chance to qualify for it. They will be taught God’s way of life and His plan of salvation. The Bible indicates that vast majority of human beings will gladly accept God’s plan of salvation, repent of their sins and be forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They will then qualify to be born as literal immortal sons and daughters of God.

All of humanity can rejoice in this hope. The true God has a foolproof plan to change human beings into His immortal sons. Satan cannot thwart that plan though at present he appears to be succeeding in doing so. God’s purposes will stand.

To understand the meaning of God’s plan of salvation for mankind as pictured in His seven annual holy days, you may order your free copy of the United Church of God booklet titled “God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind” available at its web site www.ucg.org.

The search for the truth in religion is never an easy experience. It may even be a gut-wrenching one for many because vast majority of humanity will be wrong in its faith. Most will discover that they have been following myths and very diligently chasing false dreams of salvation.

The author went through a very humbling experience in his search for the true religion. He lived and practiced Sikhism because his father was a Sikh. One is emotionally attached to one’s religion. Each step in the discovery process was humiliating when he realized that he had been wrong in his beliefs. But he started his search with the firm determination that he would follow the true religion whichever one he discovered it to be. Even after discovering the truth his attachment to his old religion lingered. Finally he had to let truth prevail in his beliefs and practices.

The author empathizes with all who want to embark on the journey to search for the true religion. It is very humiliating to learn that one has followed cunningly devised fables. But of what value is falsehood compared to the truth? Leaving one’s false religion is a small price to pay. Knowing that one has the true religion leads to priceless peace of mind. Hope you realize that peace of mind!

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