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By Pete Fisher www.mensnewsdaily.com

Talking with some Muslims recently, it was pointed out that the Bible foretells Mohammed. The passage they used was “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. 18:18.

I noticed instantly the term “from their brethren” as being a Jew as was Moses. The lineage of the Messiah, in both Judaism and Christianity is quite well known to descend from the line of King David, which means if the Muslims I discussed this with are correct, then by all means Mohammed would have to be a Jew.

But during my discussion I found no reference at all to Mohammed within the Old or New Testaments with exception that there would be false messiahs and false prophets walking around from time to time and that by using scripture as a basis, we could easily see the deception should it come along.

So here we see Moses having freed the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians using methods completely beyond the grasp of man. So it would make sense to me that anyone who was to be like Moses would exhibit at least the powers and abilities of Moses, and would also speak words not contrary to Moses’ words.

But I cannot see this with Mohammed. In fact, he seemed to be a walking contradiction to Moses and the prophets in many ways. Take this passage from the Quran for example: Koran 9:5,29 — pp102,111; cf. 2:256 — p32 where Mohammed commanded to use violence against anyone who rejected Islam, yet then said not to use religion as a means to violence. First forbidding the use of idols and images, he condoned it under being at the brink of starvation, and then once more condemned it. In fact, Mohammed changed his doctrines in the area of 50 times, and he also claimed to have been deceived by the devil in one passage, and changed his tune, something not seen in Jewish prophets. They may not have been well received, but they always stuck to their guns.

For in fact, if Mohammed arose after Moses, to further the message of Moses we would first have to see Mohammed being born of a Jewish mother and being able to trace his lineage back to King David. I never did find that connection anywhere I happened to look. Mohammed was describes as pale, almost china white in some tenets, and some even think he was Chinese or Aryan. He barely fits the description of any Semitic people when reading through the tales of his appearance.

However, I will give Mohammed and his followers the benefit of the doubt for a minute while I chew on some things here. Did Mohammed fulfill the prophecy of Moses? Then He must be a Jew.

Did Mohammed cry to God, as did Moses to spare the life of the Israelites and even offer to die on his own for them should God not forgive them? Then he must be a Jew.

Did Mohammed fulfill the promise of being the Messiah as the Bible says? Then Mohammed was a Jew.

Did Mohammed raise the dead, or bring a message of freedom to the Jews as the One Who would come after him do? Then Mohammed was a Jew.

Was Mohammed sold for thirty pieces of silver, die on a tree, and was he buried with the rich? Then Mohammed was a Jew.

Did Mohammed negate the old system of sacrifice to release the penalty of mankinds’ sins from their shoulders? Or did he enforce a worse one, i.e. Sharia?

Did Mohammed recognize Jerusalem as the Holy City of God? Then Mohammed was a Jew. Did Mohammed recognize the location and implication of the Jewish temple on the temple Mount? Then Mohammed was a Jew. And I can go on and on, but why? We can easily see that by trying to weakly squeeze Mohammed into the lineage of Moses and David, all that comes out is pulp. As in fiction, like the movie.

But who would think that God would send the Messenger to basically contradict all that Moses said and did? And why would God call His people Holy, and promise David that his lineage would never end, and have Mohammed enter the picture and order their obliteration? I could more easily comprehend that he simply tried to create a religion, and all 6,666 verses in the Quran could have been just that, another religion. But to claim to be the Messenger that God promised, without fulfilling any of the prophecies that came with the job, I really have a hard time accepting the fact that Mohammed was a Jew. Other than some dietary laws that were borrowed from the Jews, it seems Mohammed had little in common with them.

Maybe if I saw Islam fully embracing Israel and it’s people, and put an end to Sharia whereby men are made slaves, and waged a full scale Jihad against those who oppose the Quran by trying to steal Jewish lands via terror; I still could not accept Mohammed as a Jew.

But I would most definitely have a lot more respect for Mohammed and his followers.

www.tourism.gov.il

73 Per Cent Rise in First-Time Visitors to Israel; Incoming Tourism Revenues for First Half of Year Leap 23 Per Cent to $1.1 Billion

Israel’s Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson: “We are in the midst of an economic revolution; Tourism is one of the main engines of growth.”

The Semi-Annual Israeli Inbound Tourism Survey released today shows that in the first six months of 2005, there was a 73 per cent increase in the number of first-time visitors to Israel-328,000 compared to 190,000 in the same period last year. The number of those arriving in the country for touring and sightseeing purposes more than doubled to 156,000 from 75,000 in the first half of 2004. Revenues from foreign tourism rose 23 per cent to $1.1 billion.

“The data show the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. Tourism is a major source of revenue for all sectors of Israeli society,” says Israeli Minister of Tourism Avraham Hirchson.

11,000 tourists were interviewed for the survey which is intended to provide a snapshot of foreign tourists to Israel. The survey outlines their expenses, length of stay, purpose of visit, where tourists stay and more.

According to the survey, in the first six months of 2005, the number of tourists identifying themselves as Catholic rose 91 per cent to 156,000, 104,000 described themselves as Protestant (+39 per cent), 104,000 as other Christian (+53 per cent), 371,000 as Jewish (+5 per cent) and 130,000 said that they had no religious affiliation (+27 per cent).

The number of tourists arriving in Israel for pilgrimage purposes doubled from 68,000 in the first six months of 2004 to 138,000 this year. A 36 per cent rise in the number of business travelers was also reported. Those arriving on organized tours numbered 181,600 in the first six months of 2005, up 40 per cent from 88,000 a year ago.

www.usatoday.com

An anti-terrorism campaign by a group that wants tighter restrictions on driver’s licenses has angered Arab-Americans who say that an image on a planned billboard — an Arab man holding both a grenade and a license — is racist.

The billboard is the work of the New York-based Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License, which plans to post an ad with the controversial image this month near North Carolina’s state Capitol building in Raleigh. A second billboard is scheduled to be installed in late December or early January in Albuquerque, says coalition President Amanda Bowman.

She says the group is putting billboards in states it believes have particularly lax policies for scrutinizing applicants for driver’s licenses.

The campaign comes about seven months after Congress passed the Real ID Act, which calls for states to adopt a uniform way of authenticating documents that people use to obtain driver’s licenses. The measure was aimed at closing gaps in state driver’s licensing systems that have made it easy for illegal immigrants and others to get licenses by presenting fake IDs and fraudulent documents.

“I think it’s an important message to get out to North Carolinians that they have a driver’s license that is vulnerable to getting into the wrong hands,” Bowman says. “A driver’s license functions as the internal passport in the U.S.”

However, James Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, says the billboard planned by Bowman’s group is “bigoted.”

The billboard shows a man wearing a traditional Arab head scarf called a kaffiyeh and holding a grenade and a driver’s license. The image planned for the Raleigh billboard is imposed over a North Carolina landscape with the slogan “Don’t License Terrorists” above it. The Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License is spending about $50,000 each in North Carolina and New Mexico to lease the billboards, spokesman Bill O’Reilly says.

“I think the motivation is anti-immigrant,” Zogby says. “They are creating fear … over Arabs. The message is very clear: ‘Arabs are dangerous, Arabs should not get driver’s licenses.’ ”

The coalition says it is targeting terrorism, not Muslims or Arab-Americans. The images adapted for the billboards came from Internet websites that sympathize with terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, says Bowman, who notes that North Carolina authorities broke up a cigarette smuggling ring that had alleged ties with Hezbollah. “The people who have objected to these billboards have attacked us at a very mean-spirited level,” Bowman says. “It’s an attempt to bully.”

Tuesday, the coalition removed Arabic writing from a draft version of the billboard after receiving what Bowman describes as “thoughtful letters that say the writing could be construed as inflammatory.”

“For us, the issue is terrorism. It’s certainly not about racism,” says Colleen Gilbert, the coalition’s executive director. “We’re trying to highlight the fact that the 9/11 hijackers had 60-plus driver’s licenses. It’s not about immigration for us. It’s about security.”

North Carolina did not issue any of the licenses that were obtained by the 19 hijackers in various states, and it has tightened up its licensing process during the past three years, says state Department of Transportation spokesman Ernie Seneca. He says the state now requires applicants to provide multiple forms of identification.

Seneca says his department objects to the billboard and has received complaints from people who find it offensive.

“It’s misleading, totally inaccurate and offensive,” Seneca says. “They’re entitled to their freedom of speech, but North Carolina is not the right place for its campaign. They ought to look elsewhere.”