TOPICS: Koran was given as revelation from Archangel Gabriel – the true purpose of religion – no religion meant to be a warring religion – true nature of God beyond words – why Islam became a warring religion – no one true religion – the way that seems right unto a man – outer and inner struggle – spiritual warfare – the true meaning of Jihad – a warring culture perverted Jihad into a struggle against other people – is a third world war necessary? – overcoming the belief that you should kill people in the name of God – contemplate the command: Thou shallt not kill –
Question: Would it be possible to get clarification from the ascended master level on the term “Jihad.” Now, we know how the terrorists use it to promote their violence against life. But I have heard other interpretations that seems to mean a war within the self, for the higher self to conquer the lower self. There are many Christians who say that the Muslim religion itself is bad. But it seems to me that it is the interpretation of the Muslim religion that is incorrect.
Answer from ascended master Jesus through Kim Michaels:
Let me begin by commenting on the religion of Islam. Contrary to what many Christians seem to believe, the religion of Islam is a true religion. When I say true religion, I mean a religion which was originally inspired from God, or rather from the ascended masters.
The ascended masters is a body of spiritual beings, many of whom once walked the earth in a physical body and ascended to the spiritual realm. We serve as the spiritual teachers for humankind, and in our roles as teachers, we are the ones releasing new religions and spiritual teachings to humankind. Therefore, Muslims are correct in saying that the Koran was given to man through direct inspiration, or revelation, from Archangel Gabriel.
Let me move on to say that although Islam is a true religion, it is not the only true religion. As I explained in great detail elsewhere, there is more than one true religion. Obviously, both I and all other members of the ascended masters are aware that human beings find it very difficult to accept the concept that there can be more than one true religion. However, this non-acceptance, which inevitably leads to extremism and fanaticism, is a product of man and not a product of God.
Let me state clearly that I am a member of the ascended masters. Archangel Gabriel is also a member of the ascended masters. Therefore, I know full well the original divine intent behind giving the Koran and the true teachings of Islam to humankind. I can assure you that God never meant for Islam to be a warring religion, any more than he meant for Christianity to be a warring religion.
As I explained in my statements about the war in Iraq, there is no cause which, in the eyes of God, justifies the killing of human beings. Let those who have ears hear my words, be they Christians, Jews or Muslims. Here in heaven there is no such thing as a holy war. However, there is such a thing as spiritual warfare, and I will return to it later.
For now let us consider the obvious question of why, almost from the very beginning, Islam has been a warring religion, which advocated that non-believers should be converted or killed. In the new book, Save Yourself, I talk at great length about the true purpose of religion. To summarize the discussion, let me say that true religion is always given by the ascended masters. The purpose of true religion is never to give an absolute, a complete or an infallible doctrine about God.
Human beings are currently in such a low state of consciousness that they simply would not be able to grasp or accept the full truth about God and God’s being. Furthermore, the truth about God’s being could never be described in words, not even the words of a language as rich as Arabic. The true nature and being of God can be known to man, but only through at direct, inner, mystical experience which transcends all words and concepts found on earth.
My point here is that when we of the ascended masters bring forth a new religion or spiritual teaching, it is never our purpose to create “the one true religion” or to give an infallible doctrine. A new spiritual teaching is always given to people in a specific state of consciousness. Therefore, the religious teaching is always adapted to these people’s consciousness, which obviously is deeply affected by the times and circumstances in which they live. Our aim is to give a spiritual teaching which is higher than what these people currently have, but not so much higher that they will be unable to grasp it or unwilling to accept it. In other words, a new spiritual teaching is a measured response to a particular situation, one might say a particular crises in the affairs of men. This was also the case with Islam.
If you will take an objective look at the times and circumstances in which Islam emerged, you will see that it was in many subtle ways adapted to people’s level of consciousness. Therefore, almost from the very beginning certain interpretations were imposed upon the original spiritual teachings which made it appear as if Islam was meant to be the only true religion, replacing all other religions. However, if you take an objective look at history you will see that people from many other religions also imposed this interpretation on their religion, and obviously these claims could not all be true.
Let those who have ears hear my words, and if they are willing to open their hearts to the truth of God, I will now settle, once and for all, the discussion about which religion is the only true religion. Let me state very clearly that if someone claims that his religion is the only true religion, then that person demonstrates beyond any doubt that he has not understood the nature and being of God.
I understand that many fundamentalist people from various religions, including the religion of Islam, will object to this statement. Yet the very essence of Islam is complete surrender to the will of God. If you are truly willing to surrender your all to the will of God, you must be willing to reach for the truth of God. Unless you have the truth of God, how can you know the will of God? And unless you know the will of God, how can you surrender the will of man? The truth of God is, by its very nature, above and beyond all interpretations imposed by man.
It is a central idea on this website that humankind has descended into a lower state of consciousness in which they can no longer see the truth of God. Therefore, they create mental images, they create idols and interpretations, and then they seek to impose them upon the reality created by God. As the scriptures say, God is not mocked, meaning that God’s law and God’s reality is in no way affected by human beliefs and interpretations.
Therefore, I can say, being that I am an ascended master and therefore one with truth, that there are many valid ways that lead to God’s kingdom. However, as I stated 2,000 years ago, there is also a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death. The way that seems right unto a man is what this website describes as the outer approach to religion. It is this approach that causes people to become fanatical and dogmatic. It is this approach that causes people to fall under the illusion, an illusion that never originated in God, that their religion is the only true one or that it is superior to all others.
The dangerous illusion here is that people engage in an outer struggle to prove that their religion is the only true one. Instead, if they were concerned about their salvation, they should engage in the inner struggle by embracing the inner, mystical teachings of their own religion.
I can assure you that those who embrace this inner path, the straight and narrow path, within the context of any religion will soon discover that religious conflict is the most meaningless all all human conflicts. The only conflict, the only struggle, that has any meaning and validity in the eyes of God is the spiritual struggle, the spiritual warfare, whereby the lifestream fights to overcome the forces that pull it away from the kingdom of God.
These forces include the inner forces of the lower self, the dualistic mind and the human ego, and it is the true goal of Islam, Christianity and all other true religions to offer people a way out of this lower state of consciousness.
This spiritual warfare is the true meaning of Jihad. Jihad was never meant to be an outer warfare, whereby Muslims would engage in the killing of unbelievers. This is a misinterpretation imposed by man, and it was imposed by a warring culture. If you take an objective look at the historical circumstances in which Islam was given, you will see that it was given to people who were deeply divided and who were on the brink of destroying themselves with warfare and decadence. Islam was given in the hope of unifying these people in a surrender to the will of God.
Unfortunately, instead of fully embracing the central message of Islam, namely that of unconditional surrender to the will of God and the truth of God, many Muslims created a mixture of the true teachings of Islam and their warring culture. Thereby, as also happened to the early Christian church and especially through the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, the culture of a warring people became imposed upon the true teachings of Islam.
Instead of being united in a true, spiritual union that can only be brought about through a total surrender to the will of God, the Arab peoples became united in a fight against an outer enemy. These people were not able to let go of their warring culture, and since Islam told them to stop seeing each other as enemies, they had to create and outer enemy, namely nonbelievers. I might say that this particular psychological mechanism is the cause of most of the wars we have seen throughout history, including the wars between Christianity and Islam, the rise of Nazi Germany and the wars between Jews and Arabs that are ongoing to this day.
Let me say again, as I have stated elsewhere, that because of this very psychological mechanism, this unwillingness to surrender to the will and the truth of God, planet earth has become a powder keg. There is a real risk that the world will see a major conflict between Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Can this conflict be avoided? Let me state clearly that human beings alone cannot avoid this conflict. Only the intervention of God can avoid this conflict. Yet God will not intervene and prevent the conflict unless human beings not only ask him to do so, but ask him by demonstrating their willingness to embody the true, inner principles of both Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
What I am saying here is that we of the ascended masters are hoping against hope that a critical mass of Christians, Jews and Muslims will suddenly awaken and decide that it is time to stop the madness. That it is time to take a new approach to religion. That it is time to overcome the belief that you can kill your fellow man in the name of God.
If such an awakening was to happen, I can promise you that we would avoid a large-scale military conflict that could potentially pull this planet into a third World War. Yet I must also tell you that if such an awakening does not happen, and happen very soon, we of the ascended masters do not see how such a war can be avoided.
It is a simple fact that when human beings refuse to surrender their all to the will and the truth of God, they enroll themselves in the school of hard knocks. In this school they must learn by reaping the consequences of their actions, by reaping what they have sown. Those who have sown the wind of religious conflict and fanaticism will reap the whirlwind of military conflict and war.
I for one hope that we do not have to see a third world-wide war in order for people to wake up and let go of the erroneous belief that the end can justify the means and that God condones the killing of other human beings.
Let people wake up and realize that the Old Testament, which is honored by both Muslims, Christians and Jews, clearly states, “Thou shallt not kill.” The Old Testament does not define conditions under which killing is acceptable. The simple reason being that there are no such conditions in the eyes of God.
Let those who have ears, hear these words, and let them decide, be they Muslims, Jews or Christians, to once and for all abandon the concept of a holy war against their fellow man. Let them engage in the holy war against the forces of this world that are working against God’s purposes and trying to prevent the manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth.
Let me make it clear as crystal that the kingdom of God will not manifest on earth as long as human beings believe that they can kill each other in the name of God.
Copyright © 2004 by Kim Michaels