Spiritual Direction: Restoration Of The Church By Man-Uncovering the Truth At Last-Islam A Christian Heresy

Spiritual Direction: Restoration Of The Church By Man-Uncovering the Truth At Last-Islam A Christian Heresy

Roman Catholic Canon law defines heresy as “the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith”(canon 751, 1983 Code)

“From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he revealed that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration.” – Saint John Damascene, Heresy of the Ishmaelites

“Lastly, no divine oracles of prophets in a previous age bore witness to him; rather did he corrupt almost all the teaching of the Old and New Testaments by a narrative replete with fables, as one may see by a perusal of his law. Hence by a cunning device, he did not commit [forbade] the reading of the Old and New Testament books to his followers, lest he should thereby be convicted of falsehood.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

Islam Is A Man Created Heretical Form Of Christianity

On the surface, it is very interesting that for billions of the people all over the world it appears both Christianity and the Muslim faith are two separate religions.  Now, what if this were not true?  What is Christianity was actually the foundation of the Muslim faith and what if the Muslim religion is nothing more than a mere shadow of a major Christian heresy?  How would this change the appeal of people to the Muslim Church?  Would people still believe like they do today if they know they were wrong for all of these years?  You know that Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible yet it is mentioned in the Quran.  Why?  Could it be because the Quran was written by Syriac Arian Monks before the birth of Mohamed the Prophet?  Could the language of the earliest Quran not be Arabic but actually Aramaic? If this is the case what does this do to the story of Mohamed, how he got the Quran, and more importantly his religion? 

 In actual truth the Trinity appears in the Quran:  “People of the Book (Jews and Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, and attribute to God nothing except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God, and His command that He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and in His Messengers, and do not say: ‘God is a Trinity.’ Give up this assertion; it would be better for you. God is indeed just One God. Far be it from His glory that He should have a son. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth. God is sufficient for a guardian” (Quran 4:171).

It appears significant and interesting that the Trinity appears only in the Quran and only this reference to why we should believe in the humanity of Jesus and not in the Trinity.  Wait, why would this appear in the Quran in the first place? In fact the Quran is full of Jesus and Mary stories.  If you were clearly starting a new religion you wouldn’t come out with something new?  Why would you worry about the beliefs of Christians in an area where there were supposedly no Christians unless that area was full of Christians?  These two beliefs are the cornerstone tenets of Arian heresy and were clearly written by someone with knowledge of this subject and with a certain intent or outcome to endorse.  They were included to make a significant point.  This single fact got me interested in finding out a great deal more about the early roots of the Muslim faith.  

 The Quran Origins Are Much Older Than First Believed

Third, there is great deal of new information that has been recently discovered about the Muslim faith.  In August of 2015, the University of Birmingham in England began to Carbon 14 date fragments of the oldest Quran known to exist.  Their findings released from these tests showed that the oldest Quran had been written from 568 and 645.  This is very significant because this would have the Quran being written before the birth of Mohamed and clearly written before he allegedly received it from the angel Gabriel.   Muslims accept the copies of the Quran they have in their homes to be the exact same words that were spoken by Prophet Muhammad  in the early 600s AD.

Muslims believe that Allah has already promised to protect the Quran from the change and error that happened to earlier holy texts. Allah states in the Quran in Surat al-Hijr, verse 9:  ?????? ?????? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ???? ????????????   “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be it’s guardian.”

For Muslims, this verse of promise from Allah is enough to know that He will indeed protect the Quran from any errors and changes over time.  But why would this appear in the Quran in the first place.  If the Quran was supposed to have been written in Arabic and not translated from Aramaic.  This would clearly mean that the last 1400 years Islam has been hiding the truth of their origin from their believers. 

If it was the word of God given from God’s mouth to the Prophet’s ears would you need to write this down? Maybe because it was already written down before it was given to the Prophet.  For people who do not accept the authenticity of the Quran in the first place, however, clearly this verse cannot serve as proof of its authenticity, since it is in the Quran itself. It is circular logical fallacy and clearly falls in the proof department but it does cast a great shadow over the concept of the entire revelation of the Quran.

Traditionally the revelation of the Quran was not considered an isolated event in time. It was a constant stream of verses descending to Muhammad throughout the 23 years of his prophethood in Makkah and Madinah. The Prophet appointed numerous companions of his to serve as scribes, writing down the latest verses as soon as they were revealed. Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan and Zaid bin Thabit were among the scribes who had this duty. For the most part, new verses would be written on scraps of bone, hide, or parchment, since paper had not yet been imported from China.  Now compare this traditional belief with the new evidence from the University of Birmingham which Carbon 14 tested the oldest Quran pieces that were written down.   The stories do not add up.  In fact the oral tradition revelation story is completely and utterly taken out by the evidence of the Carbon 14 testing. 

It is important to note that traditional taught Muslim belief was that Muhammad would have the scribes read back the verses to him after writing them down so he can proofread and make sure there were no errors. Well if the entire process of writing began either before Muhammad was born or years before his death, the facts in evidence now take out the supposition of belief that was previously heretofore represented as the truth. In fact was there even a Angel involved if the book was already written?

To further ensure that there were no errors, Muhammad ordered that no one records anything else, not even his words, hadith, on the same sheet as Quran. Regarding the sheets that the Quran was being written down on, he stated “and whoever has written anything from me other than the Quran should erase it.”  This was allegedly done to ensure that no other words were accidentally thought to be part of the text of the Quran.  However, now it could also be aross applied that it was done because the entire process was finished before Muhammad was involved in this elaborate creation.  In other words the entire story was not true.  Finding a written piece of the Quran dating from way before it was supposed to have been written is historically extremely significant. 

It is important to understand, however, that physical writing down of the Quran was not the main way that the Quran was recorded.  Arabia in the 600’s was an oral society.  Few people outside of the learned Monks could read or write.  With only a very few people who could read and write, a huge emphasis was placed on the ability to memorize long poems, letters, and other messages. Before Islam, Makkah was a center of Arabic poetry. Annual festivals were held every year that brought together the best poets from all over the Arabian Peninsula. Exuberant attendees would memorize the exact words that their favorite poets recited and quote them years and decades later.  Thus, in this type of oral society, the vast majority of the companions learned and recorded the Quran by memorization.  This is the politically correct concept that the Muslims have told for centuries.  However, the truth is far different.  Cross apply the fact that recent University of Birmingham Carbon 14 dating has the oldest Quran being written from at least 30 to 100 years before it was supposedly have been written as well being written down on paper in society that was known for oral tradition this would mean that if the story was correct about living in an oral society and the Carbon 14 dating was accurate that writing was a copy of oral tradition then this oral tradition that Quran was based on predates Muhammad  by many decades if not centuries. 

The Quran was not narrated to just a few select Companions. It was heard and memorized by hundreds and thousands of people, many of them travelers to Madinah. Thus, chapters and verses of the Quran quickly spread during the life of the Prophet  to all corners of the Arabian Peninsula.  Could one of the reasons why it spread so quickly to all of the areas of Arabian Peninsula have been because it was already common knowledge in oral tradition at the time?  If this is the case this explains that instead of being new or different, it was just more of the same. 

Those who had heard verses from the Prophet would go and spread them to tribes far away, who would also memorize them. In this way, the Quran achieved a literary status known among the Arabs as mutawatir. Mutawatir means that it was so vastly disseminated to so many different groups of people, who all had the same exact wording, that it is inconceivable that that any one person or group could have falsified it.  Uniform thought is important when developing a political base.  It greatly helps if you unify a belief that is already commandingly believed in.  Could you imagine the concept of individual rights being taught to American Colonists for the first time on July 3, 1776 would we have had the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776?  Of course not, you must have fertile ground to plant these seeds in and to have that you must have the concept known before or build upon another concept for it to take off like that. 

Some sayings of the Prophet are known to be authentic through it being mutawatir, but the entire Quran itself is accepted as being mutawatir, because of its widespread during the life of the Prophet through oral means.  Cross apply the findings of the University of Birmingham’s 2015 Carbon 14 dating to prove that oral traditions came after the writing and writing came before Muhammad making Muhammad not the author of the either the conversations with God or the transcribing of the conversations.  He was a mere salesman or front person for an idea that was already put together.  In this way, Muhammad’s greatest gift was not the universal truth to be taught to all nations, but a universal truth that could be learned by all people-   nothing he said about its origin were really true. 

Through the use of numerous Companions of the Prophet prevented it from being subject to the protection of a few people. As verses became widespread across the Islamic world, it was impossible for those verses to be changed without Muslims in other parts of the world noticing and correcting them. Furthermore, during the life of Prophet Muhammad, the angel Jibreel  (Gabriel) would recite the entire Quran with him once a year, during Ramadan.  Cross apply that traditionally this concept was taught so that Muhammad would learn the Quran.  However, the findings of the University of Birmingham 2015 clearly show that the entire Quran was already compiled during this time.  This would mean that the need for an Angel to test him would not have been the case.   If it was written already, why do you need an Angel to test you?  You wouldn’t.  

If you wouldn’t need an Angel, why would you pick the Angel Gabriel?  This is significant because it was the Angel Gabriel who came to Mary to tell her that she was about to have a child from God.  The Angel Gabriel is a messenger Angel.  The problem here is that why would you need a messenger Angel to come to Muhammad?  The book was already written and it predated the facts that are in evidence.  Therefore, the only reason you would have the Angel Gabriel would be to justify an elaborate cover up.  It would be based on the concept that knowledge in the Arab community was such that the Angel Gabriel was known as a messenger angel and if introduced as such would be believed by an adoring public.  Gabriel was selected not by God but by Muhammad.  He was not selected to give Muhammad a message but to take message from Muhammad to the world.  This message was nothing more than an Arian heresy.  These facts became clearly apparent with the death of the Prophet. During the reigns of the first caliphs, however, a need to compile all the verses into a central book arose.  This contrived need was constructed because the caliphs who ruled the Muslim world after the death of the Prophet feared that if the number of people who had the Quran memorized dipped too low, the community would be in danger of losing the Quran forever. 

During Muhammad’s life the story was never revealed that Quran was already written. It was reported to be an oral tradition passed down by the Angel Gabriel. As a result, the first caliph, Abu Bakr, who ruled from 632 to 634, ordered a committee be organized, under the leadership of Zaid bin Thabit, to collect all the written pieces of Quran that were spread throughout the Muslim community. The plan was to collect them all into one central book that could be preserved in case the people who had the Quran memorized died out.  Please note the dates of this and the fact that in 2015 the University of Birmingham’s Carbon 14 dating clearly shows that earliest pieces of the oldest Quran were more than likely already 75 o 80 years old at this point of time.  

Zaid was very meticulous about who he accepted verses from. Because of the enormous responsibility of not accidentally altering the words of the Quran, he only accepted pieces of parchment with Quran on them had to have been written down in the presence of the Prophet  and there had to be two witnesses who can attest to that fact. These fragments of Quran that he collected were each compared with the memorized Quran itself, ensuring that there was no discrepancy between the written and oral versions.  Wait, this is interesting.  You compare the oral to the written and you take the oral to be true when it was based off of the written and yet the written was older than the oral.  This would not be logical in a strict sense considering that you are taking secondary information to indict the truthfulness of the primary information. 

In August of 2015, Keith Small of Oxford's Bodleian Library said after studying the results of the University of Birmingham’s Carbon 14 dating of the oldest known Quran pieces, "This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Quran's genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from Heaven."  

This text could have been taught to a young Muhammad by Raeb Bahira (Segius the Monk) who was an Arian Monk in Bursa when the prophet met him on a trip with his Uncle.  Surprisingly  Western Church history and Western Islamic studies really miss point the lack of evidence for pre-Islamic Islam, that is to say its Ebionites Christians, Sabaean pagans, Seekers (Hanifi) and Meccan pagans probably also Nestorian and Jewish roots. Why are all the pre-cursors to Islam all pagan or heretical Christian?  The simple answer would point to the concept that they had to be Christians since there were no real Pre- Islamic groups.  The only Pre- Isamic groups in the Arabian Peninsula were groups of people who knew the stories of Jesus, Mary, and the Bible.  

Why are the early sources of Islam not Islamic when even the Nag Hammadi library of ‘gnostic Christianity’ survived.   Paul Addae and Tim Bowes (1998) wrote that the Ebionite were faithful to the original teachings of Jesus and thus shared Islamic views about Jesus’ humanity.  Ebionites believed in Jesus being human (like the Arians), they believed in keeping the Jewish laws, and they believed that Jesus was a prophet.  In this sense the Ebionites were outside the mainstream of both Jewish religion and the Christian religions of their day.  It was Bishop Warka that taught Muhammad about God and wanted him to succeed him as the Bishop of Mecca.  He did his teachings in a cave at Mount Hira, a suburb of Mecca.  These teachings went on for a while and were in line with the beliefs of the Ebionites who were a heretical sect of Christians who had an Arian approach to Jesus divinity, a belief that Jesus was Prophet, and that some of the laws of the Jewish Church needed to be maintained.  Then one day studying by himself in the same cave, he is visited by an angel.  Muhammad was upset and ran home to tell his wife.  His wife brought him to Bishop Warka who declared that Muhammad was the Prophet. A Christian Bishop declared that Muhammad was indeed the prophet.  How could you not see the link between heretical Christianity and Islam?

The period immediately preceding the time of Muhammad witnessed the bitter fight of theistic sects and the Christological question which formed the background to the controversy: “How are divinity and humanity joined together and related to each other in Jesus Christ?”  

John wrote against the Gnostics, Jews wrote against the worship of Baal, yet silence against Islam until 632 AD or so, why would that be? Could it be, that Islam was just seen as a Christian offspring and not a separate religion at all.  Therefore its useful to find similarities and differences in terms of beliefs about the nature of Jesus understanding the many schism before Islam and the Islamic information about Jesus in the Quran. It also explains why so much of the Quran is devoted to Jesus or Mary.  In many ways the Quran appears to clarify the beliefs of Arians or Ebionites or other heretical Christian sects rather than begin a new religion.  This becomes even clearer when you apply the findings of the University of Birmingham’s Carbon 14 Dating (2015).  Considering the Quran may pre-date any previously held beliefs on the date of its completion it only makes more sense that much of the Quran is nothing more or else an attempt to clear up some of the misconceptions about Christ at the time it was written.   

Christians believe Jesus was a human and divine being sent by God.  With the exceptions of Unitarian Christians. Arian Christians, and Ebionites Christians.,who like Islam today do not believe in the Trinity, most Christians now believe in the Divinity of Jesus, which is connected to the belief in Trinity. They say he is the second member of the Triune God, the Son of the first part of the Triune God, and at the same time “fully” God in every respect.  The concept of the Trinity is totally foreign to the Ebionites or Arians.  They viewed Jesus as a prophet not the Son of God.   Cross apply the fact that Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she was going to be blessed with having a son of God.  The concept of the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary to tell her that she a virgin was having a Son of God is important to the Muslim belief because Gabriel is the an important Angel that delivers very important messages from God.  You need to believe in the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary so that you can believe he visits humans.  You must believe that God has messengers and important things to tell humans.  So if the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her that God choose her to the be the mother of God’s son- then Jesus was divine and the paradox becomes the internal contradiction within the Muslim faith.  The Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her the news and visited Muhammad.  If the Angel Gabriel visited Mary then Jesus was the Son of God and there is no need for Muhammad.  If the Angel Gabriel did not visit Mary then he did not visit Muhammad either and the Muslim religion is wrong.  Either way they are trapped within an irrefutable logic trap. 

Belief in all of the Prophets and Messengers of God is a fundamental article of faith in Islam. Thus, believing in Prophets Adam, Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad is a requirement for anyone who calls him or herself a Muslim. A person claiming to be a Muslim who, for instance, denies that Jesus was a messenger, is not considered a Muslim.  The problem becomes if Jesus was a Messenger for Allah why did he not ever say that?  Why didn’t the Angel Gabriel tell that to Mary?  Why did John The Baptist not say that?  Why did the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem get so upset with Jesus if this was the case?  The Quran says in reference to the status of Jesus as a Messenger:  “The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger before whom many Messengers have passed away; and his mother adhered wholly to truthfulness, and they both ate food (as other mortals do). See how We make Our signs clear to them; and see where they are turning away!” (Quran 5:75).

Both Muslims and Christians believe Jesus was born of a Virgin Mother, chaste and pious human woman who gave birth to Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, and at the same time “fully” God Almighty in every respect. Christians believe however, that while she was a virgin, she was married to a man named Joseph (Bible: Matthew:1:18). According to Matthew 1:25, Joseph “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus”

Like Christians, Muslims believe Mary, Maria in Spanish, or Maryam as she is called in Arabic, was a chaste, virgin woman, who miraculously gave birth to Jesus.  “Relate in the Book the story of Mary, when she withdrew from her family, to a place in the East. She screened herself from them; then We sent to her Our spirit (Angel Gabriel) and he appeared before her as a man in all respects. She said: I seek refuge from you in God Most Gracious (come not near) if you do fear God. He said: Nay, I am only a Messenger from your Lord, to announce to you the gift of a pure son. She said: How shall I have a son, when no man has ever touched me, and I am not unchaste? He said: So it will be, your Lord says: ‘That is easy for Me; and We wish to appoint him as a sign unto men and a Mercy from Us’: It was a matter so decreed” (Quran 19:16-21).   The Quran says:  “She (Mary) said: ‘O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me.’ He (God) said: ‘So (it will be) for God creates what He wills. When He has decreed something, He says to it only: ‘Be!’- and it is” (3:47).  It should also be noted about his birth that:  “Verily, the likeness of Jesus in God’s Sight is the likeness of Adam. He (God) created him from dust, then (He) said to him: ‘Be!’-and he was” (Quran 3:59).

Muslims, like Christians believe Jesus performed miracles. “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretches out thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus (Bible: Acts 4:30). But im Islam these were performed by the will and permission of God, Who has power and control over all things.  “Then will God say: ‘O Jesus the son of Mary! recount My favor to you and to your mother. Behold! I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit (the angel Gabriel) so that you did speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught you the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel. And behold: you make out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and you breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by My leave, and you heal those born blind, and the lepers by My leave. And behold! you bring forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the children of Israel from (violence to you) when you did show them the Clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ‘This is nothing but evident magic’ (5:110).

With the exception of the Unitarian Christians, Arian Christians, and at that time Ebionites Christians,  the Trinity is the central doctrine of the Christian religion. Islam charged Christianity with having distorted the pure monotheism of Jesus through the doctrines of trinity and through the veneration of icons. The belief is that in the unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons or beings are distinct from each other, while being similar in character: uncreated and omnipotent. The word “trinity” is a term used to denote the Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of the persons is distinct from the other, yet identical in essence. In other words, each is fully divine in nature, but each is not the totality of the other persons of the Trinity. Each has a will, loves, and says “I” and “You” when speaking. The Father is not the same person as the Son, who is not the same person as the Holy Spirit, who is not the same person as the Father. Each is divine, yet there are not three gods, but one God. There are three individual subsistences, or persons. The word “subsistence” means something that has a real existence. The word “person” denotes individuality and self-awareness.  Included in the doctrine of the Trinity is a strict monotheism which is the teaching that there exists in all the universe a single being known as God who is self-existent and unchangeable (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8). Therefore, it is important to note that the doctrine of the trinity is not polytheistic but monotheistic by definition.

Muslims believe in the absolute oneness of God, who is a Supreme Being free of human limitations, needs and wants. He has no partners in His Divinity. He is the Creator of everything and is completely separate from His creation.  It is very interesting to note that this added to the Quran is a clear reason to point out the logical fallacy of straw man argument.  Note that at the time of Muhammad several heretical Christian sects were that dead set against the concept of the Trinity and believed that Jesus was human without being divine.  It is very convenient to have this exact statement “revealed” in the Quran. It was also very convenient to have an Ebionite Bishop to teach you this information or to have the benefit of a heretical book to guide you.  The interesting question here would be why did God choose to have Jesus be born of virgin if he was not son of God or why was it important to understand that the concept of the Trinity is not that there is three distinct people who are God- but there is one person with three different responsibilities or capabilities.  This is how the Christians would understand it.  This is not how the Arians or the Muslims would understand it.    

Only Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (Bible: John 3:16).  However, it is interesting to note that the term “son of God” is used in other parts of the Bible to refer to Adam (Bible: Luke 3:38), Israel (Bible: Exodus 4:22) and David (Bible: Psalms 2:7) as well. The creatures of God are usually referred to in the Bible as children of God.   The notion of Jesus as son of God is something that was established under the influence of Paul of Tarsus (originally named Saul), who had been a disbeliever, but later changed course and joined the disciples after the departure of Jesus. Paul is considered by a number of Christian scholars to be the father of Christianity whereas Islam later opposed trinity  view Paul as the Christian religious leader who misrepresented the true message of Jesus. 

Heretics struggled to reject the notion of the Divinity of Jesus for close to 200 years.   The Gospel of Barnabas was accepted as a Canonical Gospel in the Churches of Alexandria till 325 CE.  Irenaeus (130-200) wrote in support of pure monotheism and opposed Paul for injecting into Christianity doctrines of the pagan Roman religion and Platonic philosophy.  In 325 (CE), a council of Christian leaders met at Nicaea and made Paul’s beliefs officially part of Christian doctrine.

Muslims believe that God is one, that there are no gods except the God. They may contend that even though Christians claim to be monotheists, they actually believe in more than one God. This concept is consistent with Arianism not with the truth that has been reported throughout history. Since Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, to them they therefore err like other people of ancient or modern times who have believed in a plurality of gods or the sons and daughters of Go. The Quran, of course is simplified in that respect and strictly monotheistic:. “Say: “God is Unique! God, the Source [of everything]. He has not fathered anyone nor was He fathered, and there is nothing comparable to Him!” (Quran 112:1-4).  The Quran also states: “Such was Jesus, the son of Mary; it is a statement of truth, about which they vainly dispute. It is not befitting to the majesty of God, that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be’ and it is” (Quran 19:34-35). 

Only Christians believe that Jesus was killed on the cross then resurrected. In that respect Islam is similar to  Docetism belief that Jesus’ physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die.  Docetism believes that Jesus Christ did not actually die, and therefore was never resurrected bodily.  This belief is actually explained in the Quran.  “They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did.” (Quran 4:156) “God lifted him up to His presence. God is Almighty, All-Wise” (Quran 4:157) .

Death and resurrection is a core Christian belief and it relates to the concept of atonement. However, the heretical sects of Christianity who do not believe in the resurrection cannot then believe in the atonement you need to both for the argument to work correctly.  According to this belief, Jesus died to save mankind from sin. However, this is not stated explicitly in the four gospels which form the primary source texts of Christianity. It is found, however, in Romans 6:8,9.   Christians believe Jesus was spat on, cut, humiliated, kicked, striped and finally hung up on the cross to endure a slow and painful death.  According to Christian belief, the original sin of Adam and Eve of eating from the forbidden tree was so great that God could not forgive it by simply willing it, rather it was necessary to erase it with the blood of a sinless, innocent Jesus.   The four Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul are the main sources of Christianity which discuss the Resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion. 

According to St. Matthew, Jesus appeared to the holy women, and again on a mountain in Galilee. Mark’s Gospel tells a different story: Jesus was seen by Mary Magdalene, by the two disciples at Emmaus, and the Eleven before his Ascension into heaven.  Luke’s Gospel says Jesus walked with the disciples to Emmaus, appeared to Peter and to the assembled disciples in Jerusalem. In John’s Gospel, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the ten Apostles on Easter Sunday, to the Eleven a week later, and to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.  

Another account of the resurrection by St. Paul is found in the Bible: Corinthians 15: 3-8.  According to Christian belief, Resurrection is a manifestation of God’s justice, Who exalted Christ to a life of glory, as Christ had humbled himself unto death (Phil., 2: 8-9). This event also completes the mystery of Christian salvation and redemption. The death of Jesus frees believers from sin, and with his resurrection, he restores to them the most important privileges lost by sin (Bible: Romans 4:25).  More importantly, the belief in the resurrection of Jesus indicates Christian acknowledgment of Christ as the immortal God, the cause of believers’ own resurrection (Bible: I Corinthians 4: 21; Phil., 3:20-21), as well as the model and the support of a new life of grace (Bible: Romans 4: 4-6; 9-11).  The emergence of the Islam can so be seen as a part of ancient church history.  World renowned Islam researcher Dr. Friedrich Schwally, a Professor of Semitic Languages at the University of Konigsberg said 1919 shortly before his death, “The theologians are not aware that the Islam is a part of our church history. The more one with studies the Quran, the clearer it becomes that its origin comes from a form of the Christianity.  Probably only around the year 800 from Islam became its own religion.”

What are the central proofs? As said, the Arian church always saw Jesus as prophet, as a messenger of God. They often call Jesus, “The large prophet,” not the son of God, but the son of Mary, and on this theology the Quran is based upon. They wrote that “Muhammad is actually a name for Jesus. Muhammad  is called  the praising and the first coin minting, on which this title appears, carry excluding Christian symbols, the cross, the baptism Jesus or the like.

The Kalif Abd Al-Malik established the rock cathedral, which is considered as the first Muslim building in Jerusalem, but it was a church. The inscription inside, is a purely Christian text, against the thesis, Jesus is the son of God.  If one, as Christopher Luxenberg suggests, reads in such a way Muhammad literally translated and the sentence: is praised (Muhammad), then it is to be referred to thereafter the mentioned Jesus. Abdallah, the slave of God, is an old Syrian name for Jesus. Later the inscription was read: Mohammed, son of Abdallah.  

The first Muslims did not know this at all- in fact they did not know that they were Muslims. They held themselves for Christians, a special form of the Christianity which rejected trinity. This could be the cause could be for the fast propagation of the Islam: That people did not have to be converted, where the religious was already a rather Unitarian tradition, where Jesus was admired as humans and an envoy (messenger) of God, not as God. Can such realizations carry the communication between the religions?  No, but consciousness that one has common roots, can lead perhaps nevertheless to a communication, as it the communication between Christians and Jews.

Early Christian Writers Recognized That Islam Was A Christian Heresy

Third, the early Christian leaders clearly understood how Islam related to Christianity and the relationship between the two.  Therefore studying the early Christian philosophers like St. John of Damascus will greatly help to increase the relationships between Christianity and the Muslims.   In his work The Fount of Knowledge, St. John explains the relationship between the Church and the Muslims. 

1. Muhammed devised his own heresy

“There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites… From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he revealed that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration.”

2. Christ’s shadow was crucified

“He says that there is one God, creator of all things, who has neither been begotten nor has begotten. He says that Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit, but a creature and a servant, and that He was begotten, without seed, of Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron. For, he says, the Word and God and the Spirit entered into Mary and she brought forth Jesus, who was a prophet and servant of God. And he says that the Jews wanted to crucify Him in violation of the law, and that they seized His shadow and crucified this. But the Christ Himself was not crucified, he says, nor did He die, for God out of His love for Him took Him to Himself into heaven.”

3. Christ denied saying, “I am the Son of God and God.”

“And he says this, that when Christ had ascended into heaven God asked Him: ‘O Jesus, didst thou say: “I am the Son of God and God”?’ And Jesus, he says, answered: ‘Be merciful to me, Lord. Thou knowest that I did not say this and that I did not scorn to be thy servant. But sinful men have written that I made this statement, and they have lied about me and have fallen into error.’ And God answered and said to Him: ‘I know that thou didst not say this word.” There are many other extraordinary and quite ridiculous things in this book which he boasts was sent down to him from God.”

4. Where did Scripture foretell Muhammad?

“But when we ask: ‘And who is there to testify that God gave him the book? And which of the prophets foretold that such a prophet would rise up?’—they are at a loss. And we remark that Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, with God appearing in the sight of all the people in cloud, and fire, and darkness, and storm. And we say that all the Prophets from Moses on down foretold the coming of Christ and how Christ God (and incarnate Son of God) was to come and to be crucified and die and rise again, and how He was to be the judge of the living and dead. Then, when we say: ‘How is it that this prophet of yours did not come in the same way, with others bearing witness to him? And how is it that God did not in your presence present this man with the book to which you refer, even as He gave the Law to Moses, with the people looking on and the mountain smoking, so that you, too, might have certainty?’—they answer that God does as He pleases.”

5. Where are the witnesses?

“When we ask again: ‘How is it that when he enjoined us in this book of yours not to do anything or receive anything without witnesses, you did not ask him: “First do you show us by witnesses that you are a prophet and that you have come from God, and show us just what Scriptures there are that testify about you”’—they are ashamed and remain silent.”

6. What do the Muslims call Christians?

“Moreover, they call us Hetaeriasts, or Associators, because, they say, we introduce an associate with God by declaring Christ to the Son of God and God… And again we say to them: ‘As long as you say that Christ is the Word of God and Spirit, why do you accuse us of being Hetaeriasts? For the word, and the spirit, is inseparable from that in which it naturally has existence. Therefore, if the Word of God is in God, then it is obvious that He is God. If, however, He is outside of God, then, according to you, God is without word and without spirit. Consequently, by avoiding the introduction of an associate with God you have mutilated Him. It would be far better for you to say that He has an associate than to mutilate Him, as if you were dealing with a stone or a piece of wood or some other inanimate object. Thus, you speak untruly when you call us Hetaeriasts; we retort by calling you Mutilators of God.’”

7. On Women

“As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous books, to each one of which he set a title. For example, there is the book On Woman, in which he plainly makes legal provision for taking four wives and, if it be possible, a thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, besides the four wives. He also made it legal to put away whichever wife one might wish, and, should one so wish, to take to oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in love. Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: “Oh, by the way, God has commanded me to take your wife.” The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Do as God has told you and take my wife.”

In Hilarie Belloc’s book, The Great Heresies  he wrote, “There is thus a very great deal in common between the enthusiasm with which Mohammed's teaching attacked the priesthood, the Mass and the sacraments, and the enthusiasm with which Calvinism, the central motive force of the Reformation, did the same. As we all know, the new teaching relaxed the marriage laws but in practice this did not affect the mass of his followers who still remained monogamous. It made divorce as easy as possible, for the sacramental idea of marriage disappeared. It insisted upon the equality of men, and it necessarily had that further factor in which it resembled Calvinism the sense of predestination, the sense of fate; of what the followers of John Knox were always calling "the immutable decrees of God."

Belloc pointed out some important points.  How did Islam grow so fast?  You can’t kill everyone to convert them.  He explained that there was indebtedness everywhere; the power of money and consequent usury. There was slavery everywhere. Society reposed upon it, as ours reposes upon wage slavery today. There was weariness and discontent with theological debate, which, for all its intensity, had grown out of touch with the masses. There lay upon the freemen, already tortured with debt, a heavy burden of imperial taxation; and there was the irritant of existing central government interfering with men's lives; there was the tyranny of the lawyers and their charges. There was a need for something or someone to offer a simple solution to the everyday problems of life.  So when the Muslims came people listened. Become Muslim and be free from debt, be free from tax, be free from the old government which had run all aspects of your life.   The odd familiarity of this heresy offered some hope for the people who were desperate for change.  What they gave up was their freedom for their security and what they got in return was neither. Today their descendants have less rights, less freedom, and less say so in their own life than the rest of the world.  

Islam Has Many Internal Contradictions 

Fourth, there are some very great problems with the general tenets of the Muslim faith.   Jesus was called “The Messiah” by Allah in the Quran and Jesus was even born of a virgin (Surah 3:45-57).  Yet Muhammad who had 12 wives, 2 concubines, and insisted on 20% of all of the booty from these raids- is supposed to be the greatest prophet of all times.  Along this line both Muslim holy books Quran and Hadith contain commands for Muslims to subjugate the world militarily.  Muhammad commanded Muslims to spread Islam through Offensive Jihad or conquest of non- Muslim lands.  Muslims are also commanded to take back any land that was formerly Muslim, such as Israel.  The only way this would be true is that the Muslim admit their relationship to the Christian Church. 

The Muslims teach that somehow Jesus never said that he was the son of God or God while he was here on earth.  Did Jesus really say He was God? That’s exactly how Jesus’ original audience seemed to take it when He said, “I and the Father are one.” In fact, the Jews were ready to kill Him right there! Why? “Because you,” they said, “a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).  Exodus 3:14 “Say to the Israelites, ‘I AM’ has sent me…”

On another occasion, He used the personal name of Israel’s God–the name revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14)–to refer to Himself. And He even used the Torah for context, so no one would misunderstand Him: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).

This would be about wild as telling a Muslim, “I am your God, Allah.” Don’t try that in Saudi Arabia! It’s no wonder the Jews tried to stone Him to death. That was the exact penalty for blasphemy under the Jewish legal system.  So, he wasn’t saying something like “I’m some other, generic god” like he was advocating polytheism.  Not at all.  It was pretty clear to everyone there that He was being much more specific…  Jesus was saying, “I am Israel’s God.” So did Jesus say He was God? Not in the way you might have expected him to.  But as Dr. Michael Kruger said,  “We should not confuse the directness of a claim with the existence of a claim.” 

The historical evidence shows that Jesus actually claimed to be the God of Israel. Indeed, Jesus didn’t have to say the words “I am God,” in order to claim to be divine. But why is this a problem? Look, I don’t have to say the exact words, “I am married” to indicate that I’m married. I can tell you, “I’m her husband,” or “this is my wife,” or “it’s our 16th wedding anniversary.” The question is, what did the people who were actually a part of conversation think about what Jesus said?  For example, he claimed to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12). While priests and prophets could mediate forgiveness by praying for people, forgiving sins committed against God was something the Jewish scribes believed only God had the authority to do. Jesus also clarified what you could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath. By the way, keeping the Sabbath is one of the 10 commandments. Who’s got the authority to lay down the law when it comes to obeying the 10 commandments? Jesus also called himself the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28).

Belloc explained in The Great Heresies, “All the great heresies save this one of Mohammedanism seem to go through the same phases.”  He went on to explain what he meant. 

First they rise with great violence and become fashionable; they do so by insisting on some one of the great Catholic doctrines in an exaggerated fashion; and because the great Catholic doctrines combined form the only full and satisfactory philosophy known to mankind, each doctrine is bound to have its special appeal.

What Muhammad did was to simplify all aspects of his religion.  He made it easy to dispense justice and have Church in traveling society.  A tribal society who moved from place to place could not have elaborate priesthood liturgies, a trained priesthood, or even elaborate court systems.  He wanted total obedience and simplicity.  Something that would require little or no formal training, little in the way of elaborate ceremony, and provide people with immediate responses.  

Thus this form of Muhammad Arianism insisted on the unity of God, combined with the majesty and creative power of God. At the same time it appealed to imperfect minds because it tried to rationalize a mystery.  You have no questions to answer about different people if you have only one God.  The Trinity would be difficult if not impossible to explain to most of Muhammad’s followers, this was not.  Calvinism again had great success because it insisted on another main doctrine, the Omnipotence and Omniscience of God. It got the rest out of proportion and went violently wrong on Predestination; but it had its moment of triumph when it looked as though it were going to conquer all our civilization which it would have done if the French had not fought it in their great religious war and conquered its adherents on that soil of Gaul which has always been the battle ground and testing place of European ideas.

After this first phase of the great heresies, when they are in their initial vigor and spread like a flame from man to man, there comes a second phase of decline, lasting, apparently (according to some obscure law), through about five or six generations: say a couple of hundred years or a little more. The adherents of the heresy grow less numerous and less convinced until at last only quite a small number can be called full and faithful followers of the original movement.

Then comes the third phase, when each heresy wholly disappears as a bit of doctrine: no one believes the doctrine any more or only such a tiny fraction remain as believers so little that they no longer count. But the social and moral factors of the heresy remain and may be of powerful effect for generations more. We see that in the case of Calvinism today. Calvinism produced the Puritan movement and from that there proceeded as a necessary consequence of the isolation of the soul, the backup of corporate social action, unbridled competition and greed, and at last the full establishment of what we call "Industrial Capital- ism" today, whereby civilization is now imperiled through the discontent of the vast destitute majority with their few plutocratic masters. There is no one left except perhaps a handful of people who really believe the doctrines Calvin taught, but the spirit of Calvinism is still very strong in the countries it originally infected, and its social fruits remain.  In fact today, the American political process is debating the needs of the have and have nots for the next Presidential election in 2024. 

Now in the case of Islam none of all this happened except the first  phase. There was no second phase of gradual decline in the numbers and conviction of its followers. On the contrary Islam grew from strength to strength acquiring more and more territory, converting more and more followers, until it had established itself as a quite separate civilization and seemed so like a new religion that most people came to forget its origin as a heresy.  Today the vast majority of adherents would be shocked to find out that they actually believed not in the true way but in a false and corrupt teaching that long ago was proven to be just mere false heresy.  Why would you believe in a shadow instead of the Sun?  

Islam increased not only in numbers and in the conviction of its followers but in territory and in actual political and armed.  Less than 100 years before the American War of Independence a Mohammedan army was threatening to overrun and destroy Christian civilization, and would have done so if the Catholic King of Poland had not destroyed that army outside Vienna on September 11.  Then almost 400 years later on Sept. 11, 2001 an attack on the United States caused a new round in this ever escalating battle between religious ideologies. 

Since then the armed power of Mohammedanism has increases as well as the conviction of its followers have appreciably increased; and as to the territory annexed by it, much of the world has now become Muslim including the cradle of Christianity in the Middle East.   And there is another point in connection with this power of Islam.

Islam is apparently so much in control of all aspects of their adherent’s lives that they try to control their very thoughts.  What happened to the freedom of the beginning of the heresy?

It has left just like the knowledge of how Islam got started.   Today we need to combat Islam with something they cannot defeat- the truth.  We need to explain about how Mohammad used a heresy to trick people and how this trick has taken away their very own free agency. God did not make us to be his slaves, we were created with our own free will to chose him not to be slave for him.   When God created us he created the ability to think, this is what he would like us to do.  When we do not and just blindly follow a cause have been fooled-Mohammad fooled his followers with something that sounded good but ended up bringing slavery to an entire population.   Can slavery by better than freedom?  Can expediency be better than deep and careful thought?  Can God’s wrath be better than God’s love?  Of course not .

Jesus by definition was the Son of God- according to the Bible and the Quran.  The Angel Gabriel, God's messenger to Mary, was the same messenger to Mohammad.  The only difference is that for the Angel Gabriel to come and visit Mary to tell her that she was going to have the Son of God then Jesus was not just a normal prophet.  This logically takes out the entire argument of the humanity of Jesus and the need for Mohammad to be a prophet.  The purpose of a prophet was to have his people repent and tell of the coming of the Messiah.  Since Jesus was the Messiah- the need for prophets has come to an end.  

Clearly the evidence shown in this treatise points out that Mohammad used a heresy to convince people of something that wasn’t true. Here are two great examples.  The first shows the Muslim concept toward women.  The Prophet said, "Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?" The women said, "Yes." He said, "This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind." (Sahih Bukhari 3:48:826)  

The second one shows the alleged humanity of Jesus.  And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah ? he saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then Thou knewest it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy Mind. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower of Things Hidden ? (Qur'an 5:116)

The missionary efforts made by great Catholic orders which have been occupied in trying to turn Mohammedans into Christians for nearly 1400 years have everywhere wholly failed. We have in some places driven the Mohammedan master out and freed his Christian subjects from Mohammedan control, but we have had hardly any effect in converting individual Mohammedans save perhaps to some small amount in Southern Spain 500 years ago; and even so that was rather an example of political than of religious change.

Now what is the explanation of all this? Why should Islam alone of all the great heresies show such continued vitality?  The answer is simple- it allows people to possess absolute power over a population of subjects.  This power is addictive and sought after by political leaders and Kings.  The ruling class has used this to keep the masses at bay and to keep large segments of society happy with little or no modern needs.  Why worry about the 21st century when your population is living in the seventh century?  Why worry about providing your society with a modern education when they are perfectly happy with a seventh century one?  Why build 21st century hospitals or provide modern jobs for all people when one half of the population are treated worse than second class citizens?  The answer is simple.  The truth is here and the truth has been staring us in the face for 1400 years.  Islam is a heresy that is being used by the ruling class to hold their people under control.  This is not a major religion, it is major problem and no God would allow this if you were allowed to think twice about it.