By Manuel Mariano Jr.
Tracing back the history of the Judeo-Christian faith, I was so much interested on making a research on the history of God. Deep inside me, I was looking for the answer to who could be the one true God among the many gods being worshiped by people today.
I found the answer in Joshua 24:2-5. Upon the death of Moses in 1406 BC, Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago, your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and Nahor, lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the river and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.
“I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt… So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Joshua told them, ‘Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
From this time on, the nation of Israel was established in the promised land once again.
What is interesting in this story was that God allowed man to live in this world as they please, from the flood in Noah’s time up to Terah’s time. Many people have descended from Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and bible scholars never stopped researching where these people settled and what happened to them.
Moses, the author of the first five books in the Old Testament, had no account on what transpired to all the generations from thereon, except for his descendants.
Karen Armstrong, a former nun, authored a book about the history of God and identified many man-made gods.
Baal cropped up among the Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites in Canaan; Egyptians had their own gods in Isis, Osiris, Mithras, Ra, etc. The Babylonians had Inana, Ishtar, and Aphrodite in Greece and other sun god, moon god, sea god, etc., that had proliferated in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Are these the Gentiles who worshiped other gods? They probably were, as Paul explained when he was ordained as apostle to spread the gospel to them as written in the New Testament.
There are three great religions in the world today, each claiming it is the one true religion. Judaism worships Yahweh; Christianity worship Yahweh, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit; and Islam worships Allah.
The bible only gave its account on the patriarchs and how God’s chosen people would be derived for the purpose of revealing God’s plan for mankind. In this prophetic line came instructions in detail on how to worship a Holy God who created all things seen and unseen in this world. There is no other book which gave the details of worshipping him alone except the bible.
What if Jesus Christ did not come down from heaven and no apostles witnessed His earthly life for 33 years? Are the other gods more credible than Jesus Christ? Who wrote the eyewitness account on how they were made known to man?
If the one true God took Him about 4,000 years to send His only begotten Son to live with mankind to show His concern of bringing salvation to every soul, then He also is that patient enough to wait for mankind to repent for their sins. He knows Satan will confuse man to believe in some false gods, but Jesus Christ forewarned man from the start to beware of these Satanic religions. But Satan will eventually lose grip on his hold over this cruel world. When that time comes he will be banished again from this world where he was thrown down.
Finally, the message to the Gentiles is clear. Matthew, the tax collector who became one of the 12 disciples, said Jesus Christ wants us to go out to all nations of the world and tell them the Good News. There is hope for a brighter future for mankind if we obey what the Messiah has been telling us all along from the beginning of time. He is the only way, the truth and the light, accoding to John 14: 4-6.
People should stop being a devil’s advocate now. Instead, they should join the bandwagon of unity, love and understanding. This is the direction that Jesus Christ outlined for a new world order, not the one espoused by Satan, which is full of deception, selfishness and greed, the causes of lawlessness and disharmony of people.
Mariano is a retired Philippine Army brigadier general who served in the field as Infantry and Intelligence officer.