The Great Difference God and the religions of the world Hendrik Schipper 1 Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Order via e-mail [email protected] ISBN/EAN 978-94-91382-35-2 1st printing januari 2020 Published by Boaz Multi Media – Veenendaal in cooperation with foundation Boaz World Word Project. Translation: Hannie Tijman - Tijman Vertalingen. Copyright: ©2017 Hendrik Schipper/Boaz Multi Media All rights reserved. 2 THE GREAT DIFFERENCE CONTENT Preface 5 Introduction 7 01. God and Islam. 26 02. God and Buddhism. 40 03. God and Hinduism. 64 04. God and Animism. 95 05. God and Taoism / Confucianism 106 06. God and New Age. 133 07. God and Roman Catholicism. 150 08. God and Judaism. 186 09. God and Jainism. 228 10. God and the Bahá'í. 245 11. God and Sikhism. 264 12. God and the Greek gods. 278 13. God and Norwegian / Germanic gods. 311 14. God and the gods-Japanese Shintoism 336 15. God and Jehovah's Witnesses. 351 16. God and the Mormons. 378 17. God and Humanism 432 18. God and I self (the biggest idol) 440 19. God and the New World Order (NWO) 466 20. God and the modern-day idols 486 21. The most important differences between a Christian and a non-Christian 532 Epilogue 539 3 Preface There are many religions around the world. And even though there have always been many, their number is still increasing as people become more vocal and individualistic, and less inclined to acknowledge and tolerate authority. A main cause is that people no longer believe in the God of the Bible and that the Bible as the Word of God, has less authority over their lives. After the Lord Jesus instructed His apostles to proclaim the good news of reconciliation and grace through faith in Him all over the world, the spreading of the Gospel has been richly blessed. The Gospel has reached almost all the nations and we are getting close to the time of which the Lord Jesus said He would come back to establish His Kingdom. However, He also warned us that close to the time of His return, many false teachers would come, and He even wondered whether He would still find believers on earth. There are still countries that need to be reached with the Gospel, but in many countries Christianity is also declining. With this decline, many of God’s commandments are also compromised. God’s Word no longer has any authority. The consequences of this can be seen in individual lives, yet perhaps even more so in a country’s politics and 4 laws. Some examples include the devaluation of marriage between a man and a woman, as God intended it. Killing a baby in the mother’s womb was not permitted in the past, and euthanasia was not allowed either. Spiritual practices, especially Asian ones, are also increasing – often in the form of meditation, but statues are also popular. People put Buddha statues in their houses or gardens, without realizing their significance. Because of everything that is coming at us, I had it on my mind to clearly indicate the differences between Christianity and all kinds of other religions, as well as many forms of Christianity that deviate from God’s Word. It is my wish and prayer that many people will be blessed by getting to know this book and, if necessary, correct the error of their ways. I thank the Lord for His guidance in putting together and writing this book, and I also thank my wife Kenna for reading and correcting the text. Hendrik Schipper Januari 2020 5 Introduction What is the criterion? What is the criterion in assessing the many religions around the world? Every person probably has his or her own starting points and standards for this. Maybe these people have thought them up themselves or picked them up from other folks. As we assess the many world religions in more detail, we want to make it clear that for us the Bible, God’s Word, is the criterion; this does not hold for other religions. Unfortunately, many Christian communities, churches and groups also deviate from the Word of God. In these situations, people put their own framework over God’s Word. People’s own explanations, views, experiences, creeds, cultures and traditions are given more importance than the Bible. I hope it will be clear that, in this sense, the view of the Bible has been distorted or obscured. A person can only view God’s Word correctly through the light of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides into all truth. The apostle Peter says that we have the prophetic word confirmed which we would do well to heed. Prophecy did not come by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke and wrote down the Word of God, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 6 The battle for the nations After the Ascension and Pentecost, the apostles went out to proclaim the Gospel of salvation and deliverance from the power of Satan. This redemption is only possible through faith, repentance and rebirth. Millions of people have come to faith through this proclamation and the working of the Holy Spirit, and it continues to this day. But not all the nations have heard the Gospel yet, neither is the Gospel yet available in all languages. However, Satan is not sitting idly by and he tries to prevent and fight the progress of the Gospel in all sorts of ways. He does this by persecuting the believers and also by bringing in false teachers, who deviously twist the Gospel, sometimes in an almost imperceptible way. This ‘Gospel’ seems almost real, but those who know the Bible well and are led and enlightened by the Holy Spirit are sure to notice the error or distortion. From the very beginning of the church, we read about false prophets; over the course of the years, false teachings have only increased. In and of itself this is not strange because it is what the Lord Jesus prophesied – namely that it will be a small flock when He returns. Yes, He even asked Himself if He would still find faith on earth. 7 In the following chapters, we will give an overview of the most important deviations from the Bible. We will leave out social non-Christian groups, such as communism, socialism and atheism. The Bible verses that follow underline what I have said about false teachers and false prophets. In the Bible’s Old Testament, it was idols that tempted Israel to no longer obey the God of Israel. Warnings against idols and false prophets Warnings in the Old Testament against idols For Israel, newly freed from slavery in Egypt, idols were a real danger. They had served the Egyptian idols in Egypt. And although they had experienced the power of the living God when they were freed from Egypt, it quickly transpired that it did not take them long to forget the living God. In the absence of Moses, their leader, they set up a golden calf and created a god for themselves out of gold. A dead idol. No wonder that the God of Israel gave Moses all kinds of instructions to combat idolatry. Exodus 20:1-5 - And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven 8 above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. Psalm 115:3-8 – (…) He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them. Isaiah 42:8 - I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Isaiah 44:6-7, 9-11 - Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. […] Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not 9 profit; they are their own witnesses; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all his companions would be ashamed; and the workmen, they are mere men.