The very first news story I read yesterday morning was about a
Dutch Roman Catholic bishop who is advocating that Christians rename
"God" to "Allah."
Bishop Martinus Petrus Maria Muskens, (also
known as "Tiny") told Dutch TV: "Allah is a very beautiful word
for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will call God 'Allah'?"
My mouth was still hanging open when I read the
last part of his statement: "God doesn't care what we call Him."
If one doesn't believe that God is real, then it
really doesn't matter what name one chooses.
It's like naming your 6-foot tall invisible
white rabbit. You can call him "Harvey." Or you can name him
"Peter Cottontail." He won't object either way – since he isn't
real.
But if you try to rename your friend Fred from
down the street, he may not be so pleased about being called George. Because
Fred is a real person, you wouldn't think about calling him George simply
because somebody else likes that name better.
Because God is as real as you or I, it isn't up
to us to rename Him like He was a stray basset hound. God has many names; most of them are names of
praise and worship, rather than names in the sense of a personal name. They
include Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah (YHWH), Shepherd, Judge, Father,
Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, or simply "Lord" or "Almighty
God." One name that has never been ascribed to Him in Scripture is
"Allah."
Bishop Muskens' comments found an immediate
audience in America. Council on Islamic American Relations spokesman Ibrahim
Hooper thinks it is a great idea.
"It reinforces the fact that Muslims,
Christians and Jews all worship the same God," Hooper told FoxNews.com.
"I don't think the name is as important as the belief in God and following
God's moral principles. I think that's true for all faiths."
According to the God of the Bible, God's Name is
very important to Him. "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in
vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain" (Exodus 20:7).
God's unique identity as the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob is very important to Him, as well. "And as for Ishmael, I
have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and
will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make
him a great nation. ... But My covenant will I establish with Isaac"
(Genesis 17:21).
Have you ever noticed that it is Allah who is
seeking to be identified with God, and not the other way around? There is no
effort among Christians and Jews to declare God another name for Allah (with the
exception of Bishop Muskens.)
Being worshiped as God is Satan's No. 1
objective to the exclusion of all else. Everything Scripture reveals about Satan
exposes his agenda.
He tempted Jesus in the wilderness, demanding
that Jesus bow down and worship him. Paul says he will sit "as God, in the
Temple of God" during the Tribulation. John says he will demand worship as
a condition of participating in his economic/religious system.
Notice this very important spiritual clue: It
isn't God that wants to be worshiped as Allah, but Allah who wants to be
worshiped as God.
It is both a distinction and a difference.
Christians and Jews worship a Living God. As a
living entity, God cannot be "reinvented" to suit somebody else, since
He already is Who He is.
The Scriptures were given us to reveal God for
Who He is, rather than some impersonal, nameless spiritual entity "up
there" somewhere.
The doctrine of Satan is that all religions are
equally valid, that all paths lead to God, that God is impersonal, unknowable,
and it is therefore irrelevant to Him what we call Him or how we worship Him.
If Allah and God are one and the same, then
wouldn't the worship of the Hindu chief gods, Vishnu and Shiva, also be the
worship Allah and God, only by a different name? Pretty soon, everybody is God.
Which is the same as saying that nobody is.