Mrs. Bushwack's lesson Reposted with permission
This post was written by Mrs. Bushwhack, who is currently serving as Clergy in her local Church, and posted by my friend Mr. Bushwhack a little over a month ago. And in light of today's current events in the middle east, I thought it would be helpful in gaining perspective. Thanks Bushy, for allowing me to repost it.
POST:
My wife and I had a conversation last night that started out with my usual rant on the Muslim religion. She enlightened me on a few things and I asked her to write it down and I’d post it for discussion. Here it is.
I am a firm believer that there are spiritual principals behind events in our world. I’m not a “devil behind every bush” type of person. However, sometimes in order to understand the present we must look to the past, to elements of faith and belief in a sovereign God. This is just the case with what is going on today with extreme Islamics. Many people do not understand just where the religion of Islam came from and why it is so similar yet so different from Judaism or Christianity. It is time for a Biblical history lesson found in Genesis.
Long before Christ, God spoke to Abraham and established a covenant with Him. Basically, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God promised to bless Abraham with much “seed” or descendants. However, at the time he did not have a son. Even though Abraham and Sarah were very old, God promised a nation would arise from “the promised seed.” Now just like most people, Abraham and Sarah thought God was taking too long; so Sarah stepped in to hurry up the process. She let Abraham sleep with her handmaid, Hagar. Hagar became pregnant and Sarah was now angered. She sent Hagar away, to roam in the desert. The unborn child was Ishmael. While in the desert the Lord sent a messenger to Hagar, telling her to return to Abraham and also saying some things about her unborn child. God promised to make him a nation and told a little about his character, “He will be a wild donkey of a man, He will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will attack all his brothers.” GENESIS 16:12 Hagar returned and gave birth to Ishmael.
When Abraham was 86 years old, Ishmael WAS the first born of Abraham, but he was not the promised one of God. However, God did say to Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, that her son would become a nation and have many descendants. The lines of Ishmael, his 12 sons, were the leaders of the ARAB nations.
Ok, so what about God’s promise to Abraham? When Abraham was 96 years old God gave instructions for keeping the agreement between them. A sign of the covenant, the promise of numerous seed, would be circumcision. Then when Abraham was 100 years old, Isaac was born. And he circumcised him just as the Lord had instructed. Isaac was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Ishmael was not part of the covenant with God, he was uncircumcised, and he was destined to lead a life of strife, as proclaimed at his birth, and be at war with his brothers, the covenant people, the circumcised, and the promised nation of Israel. Since Ishmael was the first born of Abraham, Islamic people consider him the promised one, a prophet of God. In Islamic tradition it was Ishmael that was laid on the altar for sacrifice, not Isaac. Mecca is the place in the desert where Hagar fled when she was pregnant with Ishmael. Therefore, it is holy. The Islamic religion is a flipped or opposite of the Hebrew tradition. Ishmael takes the “hero” role and Isaac is the outcast. Islam is a perversion of the covenant with God.
So what does that mean? Well for people of faith, we know that there are consequences for disobedience / lack of faith in God. This lack of faith in God set the stage for the rise of Islam. From the line of Ishmael the Islamic faith arose. Ishmael was the “Bastard” child, the one that was a constant reminder of disobedience, the total opposite of what God had in mind for Abraham, father of the nation of Israel. And that is evident in what is proclaimed by God at his birth. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, He will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will attack all his brothers.” GENESIS 16:12 His descendants today, the Arab nations, the Muslims, are in constant turmoil, in short terrorists! Doomed to forever war against the covenant people, Israel as well as all their allies. This war on terror is not just a physical war, but a spiritual one as well that had its beginnings 1000’s of years ago! Please read the story of Abraham for yourself (Genesis 16-22), and may your eyes be opened to the spiritual side of the war with terror.
Pray for our nations, leaders as well as the troops. May God grant America victory!
See I told you she knew her stuff.
I love that line in there “He will be a wild donkey of a man” I knew they were a bunch of asses.
When I was a young lad of about 4 or 5, I went into the kitchen one afternoon while my mom was cooking dinner. I noticed some interesting activity happening on the stove top, so I went to investigate. When my mom saw me getting close, she scolded me and told me not to put my hand on top of the stove, because I'd get burned. I thought to myself 'burn hand. Yeah, I believe my mom'.
But when my mom turned away to open the refrigerator, I put my hand onto the stove and received 2nd and 3rd degree burns. You say what an idiot I was. Yep, I'd agree. But it was at that moment in time I went from 'believing' to 'knowing'.
The bible has been around for quite a while now, and has told us several times and in several different ways what this world is all about, past, present, and future. And there are some of us that sit back and say 'yeah, I believe it'. Well, In my humble opinion, this is clear evidence right before our eyes that what the bible says is true, and I've gone from 'believing' to 'knowing'.
How 'bout you?
POST:
My wife and I had a conversation last night that started out with my usual rant on the Muslim religion. She enlightened me on a few things and I asked her to write it down and I’d post it for discussion. Here it is.
I am a firm believer that there are spiritual principals behind events in our world. I’m not a “devil behind every bush” type of person. However, sometimes in order to understand the present we must look to the past, to elements of faith and belief in a sovereign God. This is just the case with what is going on today with extreme Islamics. Many people do not understand just where the religion of Islam came from and why it is so similar yet so different from Judaism or Christianity. It is time for a Biblical history lesson found in Genesis.
Long before Christ, God spoke to Abraham and established a covenant with Him. Basically, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God promised to bless Abraham with much “seed” or descendants. However, at the time he did not have a son. Even though Abraham and Sarah were very old, God promised a nation would arise from “the promised seed.” Now just like most people, Abraham and Sarah thought God was taking too long; so Sarah stepped in to hurry up the process. She let Abraham sleep with her handmaid, Hagar. Hagar became pregnant and Sarah was now angered. She sent Hagar away, to roam in the desert. The unborn child was Ishmael. While in the desert the Lord sent a messenger to Hagar, telling her to return to Abraham and also saying some things about her unborn child. God promised to make him a nation and told a little about his character, “He will be a wild donkey of a man, He will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will attack all his brothers.” GENESIS 16:12 Hagar returned and gave birth to Ishmael.
When Abraham was 86 years old, Ishmael WAS the first born of Abraham, but he was not the promised one of God. However, God did say to Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, that her son would become a nation and have many descendants. The lines of Ishmael, his 12 sons, were the leaders of the ARAB nations.
Ok, so what about God’s promise to Abraham? When Abraham was 96 years old God gave instructions for keeping the agreement between them. A sign of the covenant, the promise of numerous seed, would be circumcision. Then when Abraham was 100 years old, Isaac was born. And he circumcised him just as the Lord had instructed. Isaac was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Ishmael was not part of the covenant with God, he was uncircumcised, and he was destined to lead a life of strife, as proclaimed at his birth, and be at war with his brothers, the covenant people, the circumcised, and the promised nation of Israel. Since Ishmael was the first born of Abraham, Islamic people consider him the promised one, a prophet of God. In Islamic tradition it was Ishmael that was laid on the altar for sacrifice, not Isaac. Mecca is the place in the desert where Hagar fled when she was pregnant with Ishmael. Therefore, it is holy. The Islamic religion is a flipped or opposite of the Hebrew tradition. Ishmael takes the “hero” role and Isaac is the outcast. Islam is a perversion of the covenant with God.
So what does that mean? Well for people of faith, we know that there are consequences for disobedience / lack of faith in God. This lack of faith in God set the stage for the rise of Islam. From the line of Ishmael the Islamic faith arose. Ishmael was the “Bastard” child, the one that was a constant reminder of disobedience, the total opposite of what God had in mind for Abraham, father of the nation of Israel. And that is evident in what is proclaimed by God at his birth. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, He will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will attack all his brothers.” GENESIS 16:12 His descendants today, the Arab nations, the Muslims, are in constant turmoil, in short terrorists! Doomed to forever war against the covenant people, Israel as well as all their allies. This war on terror is not just a physical war, but a spiritual one as well that had its beginnings 1000’s of years ago! Please read the story of Abraham for yourself (Genesis 16-22), and may your eyes be opened to the spiritual side of the war with terror.
Pray for our nations, leaders as well as the troops. May God grant America victory!
See I told you she knew her stuff.
I love that line in there “He will be a wild donkey of a man” I knew they were a bunch of asses.
When I was a young lad of about 4 or 5, I went into the kitchen one afternoon while my mom was cooking dinner. I noticed some interesting activity happening on the stove top, so I went to investigate. When my mom saw me getting close, she scolded me and told me not to put my hand on top of the stove, because I'd get burned. I thought to myself 'burn hand. Yeah, I believe my mom'.
But when my mom turned away to open the refrigerator, I put my hand onto the stove and received 2nd and 3rd degree burns. You say what an idiot I was. Yep, I'd agree. But it was at that moment in time I went from 'believing' to 'knowing'.
The bible has been around for quite a while now, and has told us several times and in several different ways what this world is all about, past, present, and future. And there are some of us that sit back and say 'yeah, I believe it'. Well, In my humble opinion, this is clear evidence right before our eyes that what the bible says is true, and I've gone from 'believing' to 'knowing'.
How 'bout you?
posted by Gary | 9:50 AM
<< Home