Which Shall We Choose To Do?

Suddenly, going to a football stadium can force us to realize that terrorists could be sitting nearby, prepared to kill themselves and us, while a football sails through the air! Although it can seem surreal to even think of such a tragedy in relation to an afternoon’s entertainment, that is the reality we live with in these early years of the 21st century.

Of course, we don’t have to dwell on terrorism. We can simply tell ourselves nothing will happen and go on with our daily life as though there is no threat of extreme interference by “religious extremists.” Or, we can devoutly embrace the philosophy of “Whatever will be, will be,” especially if our religious beliefs have always enabled us to accept sad events with composure.

In short, when we contemplate experiencing a terrorist attack, we could expect to go to Heaven, even as the terrorists anticipate for themselves. Or, we could believe our body will gradually decay and that will be the end of us. Our beliefs or philosophies, whatever they might be, can truly enable us to anticipate or endure life’s tragedies without allowing them to “break us,” mentally or spiritually. But accepting the escalating threat of a nuclear war with “intelligent resignation” is not the best choice we can make to help ourselves!

The clergies and members of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have been arguing with each other throughout their mutual history. Today, their strife is reaching its “nuclear climax.” In response to their arguments, you can sit back and watch, believing there’s nothing you can do. Or, you can argue for the destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, as if that’s going to happen! And you can always deny the imminence of a catastrophe. The list of our personal reactions can go on and on: Name it and someone is probably doing it!

Still, we can also choose to do something else, something we have never done before — even as our future could hold miseries we have never endured before.

Jews, Christians and Muslims could each alter their beliefs enough to finally settle the arguments that have driven believers in Abraham’s God to hate and kill each other for two thousand years. In short, all “believers,” and every thinking human being, urgently needs to become acquainted with the COMBINED teachings of ALL the Prophets, from Abraham through Muhammad. Their COMBINED revelations provide an enlarged understanding of the Thinking Power that even many skeptical scientists, acknowledging the complexities of the known universe, are now conceding must have created it all.

What has that “Higher Power” revealed about Itself and us? The Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam each contain some of those revelations. But the “official interpretations” of those messages, by each religion’s proud clergy, have relentlessly driven us to hatred and bloodshed. Yet, if we choose to COMBINE the messages as they were recorded — not as the clergies have interpreted them — we could be spared the “gross darkness” the Prophets foretold (Isa. 60:2). Instead, we would become able to turn our hearts to each other, as the Prophets strongly advised (Mal. 3:24/4:6).

In fact, science tells us we have no real reason to believe that a nuclear war will destroy all life on earth. It will “only” consume us in misery, pain and fear beyond anything humans have ever suffered. But why would anyone choose to suffer an unprecedented catastrophe without even trying to avoid it through an unprecedented understanding?

Please join me in choosing to improve our understanding by reading “Of Promises and Previews: Urgent Old Messages for a New Millennium.” I urge you to learn what we have been Promised and recognize what we have been shown in Previews. Although, ultimately, we may not be able to spare the world a nuclear war, the least we could accomplish is to help ourselves endure a nuclear winter with our sanity intact. But the best we could accomplish is to help the world wholly avoid the tragedy and leap into the “good times,” which were also foretold (Mal. 3:20/4:2).