Editorial and Richard Urban Show: Do You Know the Facts about COVID and the COVID Vaccines?
Book Review-American Worldview Inventory 2020-21 by George Barna
Hebrews 6
9 My friends, we are talking this way. But we are sure that you are doing those really good things that people do when they are being saved. 10 God is always fair. He will remember how you helped his people in the past and how you are still helping them. You belong to God, and he won’t forget the love you have shown his people. 11 We wish that each of you would always be eager to show how strong and lasting your hope really is. 12 Then you would never be lazy. You would be following the example of those who had faith and were patient until God kept his promise to them.
Matthew
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Richard: We do well to take the scripture of Matthew 6:33 as our motto. It is, indeed, a rare path for people to take, as Jesus said earlier in verse 24 of the same chapter
“You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Muhammad
Living in polytheistic Arabia, Muhammad saw the truth of the one God and accepted his calling to be God’s apostle. Though he knew the stories of the bible from childhood, the Jews and Christians living in his area did not impress him, for they lacked the conviction or zeal to confront the ruling polytheistic tribes. Muhammad went through the streets of Mecca proclaiming the message of Islam to anyone who would listen. Though he suffered persecution and exile, he also found supporters. Muhammad and his companions were welcomed in Medina, where they defended the young faith against overwhelming odds. Muhammad was devoted to God and uncompromising with evil. Father Moon honors him as one of the foremost founders of religion.
1. God’s Revelation to Muhammad
Muhammad is… the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets.
Qur’an 33.40
O Prophet, We have sent you as a witness, and good tidings to bear and warning, calling unto God by His leave, and as a light-giving lamp.
Qur’an 33.45-46
It belongs not to any mortal that God should speak to him, except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or that He should send a messenger and He reveal whatsoever He will, by His leave; surely He is All-high, All-wise. Even so We have revealed to thee [O Muhammad] a Spirit of Our bidding. You knew not what the Book was, nor belief; but We made it a light, whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants. And you, surely you shall guide unto a straight path—the path of God.
Qur’an 42.51-53
In the month of Ramadan… in the night on which God honored Muhammad with his mission and showed mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. “He came to me,” said the Apostle of God, “while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade where-upon was some writing, and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I cannot read.’ He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I cannot read.’ He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I cannot read.’ He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What then shall I read?’ —and this I said only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again. He said,
Read! In the name of thy Lord who
created,
Who created man of blood coagulated.
Read! Thy Lord is the most beneficent,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught that which they knew not unto
men. [Qur’an 96.1-5]
“So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart. Now none of God’s creatures was more hateful to me than an ecstatic poet or a man possessed: I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me, a poet or possessed—never shall the Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to do so, and then, when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘O Muhammad! Thou art the Apostle of God and I am Gabriel.’ I raised my head toward heaven to see who was speaking, and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon, saying, ‘O Muhammad! Thou art the Apostle of God and I am Gabriel.’ I stood gazing at him, moving neither forward nor backward; then I began to turn my face away from him, but toward whatever region of the sky I looked, I saw him as before…
“I said to Khadija, ‘Woe is me, a poet or one possessed.’ She said, ‘I take refuge in God from that, O Abu’l-Qasim. God would not treat you thus, since He knows your truthfulness, your great trustworthiness, your fine character, and your kindness. This cannot be, my dear. Perhaps you did see something.’ ‘Yes, I did,’ I said. Then I told her of what I had seen; and she said, ‘Rejoice, O son of my uncle, and be of good heart.48 Verily, by Him in whose hand is Khadija’s soul, I have hope that you will be the Prophet of this people.’”
Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Why did God reveal Himself to the prophets and create the great religions of the world? It was to enable the human race to return to Him, and then, in perfect oneness with His blessed Will, establish one peaceful world. Humanity must know God’s original vision for the world, and know the reason why God revealed Himself to the prophets. Surely no one expressed more deeply this original ideal of God than the blessed Prophet Mohammed, not only in word but also in deed. (October 21, 1990)
Muhammad was centered on God, and based on God’s revelation he founded the religion of Islam. It adopted the teachings of the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible with contents appropriate to Arab culture. Through Islam, Muhammad sought to give human beings the absolute truth of God. (39:316, January 16, 1971)
God always supports those serving the larger purpose… Between one who lived for his family, and one who sacrificed his beloved family for the benefit of his community, God would support the one living for the community. This is an unchanging principle of God. Once again, we can use the Prophet as a supreme example of knowing and living according to this Divine Principle. Did the Prophet live only for his own clan or tribe or even only for the Arab people? No, he always lived for the higher purpose, not limiting his message for only one group or race. The message of the Prophet was for every precious one into whom God breathes His spirit. (October 21, 1990)
