By Reno Omokri,

This is a recurring question and there is a lot of misinformation and ignorance on this issue and it affects peaceful coexistence, therefore, it is worth treating. With facts. Not emotions.

Yes, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamic faiths, but whether or not they lead to the same God should be settled by what the holy scriptures of these religions say, rather than what we think or feel.

Religious conflicts occur when we let our EMOTIONS dominate us. If we want to be stable persons, we must obey these four things before we obey our EMOTIONS.

• CONSCIENCE
• PRINCIPLES
• WISDOM
• INTELLIGENCE

All four of them are greater than EMOTION when it comes to making religious decisions.

I strongly disagree with those who say we are worshipping the same God with Muslims. I have read The Bible and the Quran. The God of The Bible called Christ His Son with His own Voice (He did not speak through a prophet. He spoke by Himself from heaven to the hearing of those standing with Christ and Yohannan (John the Baptist) by the River Jordan in Matthew 3:17. Meanwhile, the Quran rejects that Christ is the Son of God in Quran 6::101. By this alone, it is indisputable that we do not serve the same God.

Allah is not the name of God. Allah is the Arabic word for God, just as El means God in Hebrew. The word Allah existed even before Islam existed. One of the companions of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) was Waraqah, a Christian priest. He read from an Arabic translation of the Christian Scripture, which used the word Allah and it referred and refers to God. For the Christian, God’s name is not God or El. God has a Name that is Holy and that Name is written in Scripture.

I know His Name, but I do not pronounce it. Jews will never pronounce the Name. Many Pentecostal Christians choose to pronounce the Name. That is up to them.

A famous Bible scholar named Daddy Freeze once said that all those who disagree that Christians and Muslims worship the same God are motivated by money. I give my congregants money, and I do not take from them. I don’t receive tithes. So, this is not about money. I have no other motive for saying this other than loyalty to God.

John 14:6 says “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”. Any route to the God of our Lord and Saviour that does not go through Christ is a route to another deity.

I believe this because Scripture says “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things”-1 Corinthians 8:6.

We may all want to serve the same one God. But we do not all worship the same God

In search of coexistence, those who love peace sometimes overzealously seek to compromise, to syncretise our various faiths and come up with a hybrid faith that pleases everybody.

But guess what, religion is not meant to please man. It is meant to please God. So, no matter how annoying your faith may be to the next man, do not try to seek peace with him by amending your beliefs to suit his. Instead, seek peace by understanding his religion for the purpose that as much as depends on you, you should not do anything to offend his religion.

it is better to be willing to die for your faith than to live to see it watered down or synchronised with another religion. That is why I respect Leah Sharibu and have gone to 36 countries at my own personal expense, begging influential world leaders to help secure her release.

The God and Father of our Lord, the Christ, is not the same God as is worshipped by other religions, with the exception of Judaism. He cannot be. Galatians 1:8 put paid to that. That verse says “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel OTHER than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”.

I will never make a judgment on Islam or on any other religion. There is no compulsion in religion. But I am a Christ follower and I make no apologies for that. I do not believe in any other holy book outside Scripture, though I have read the Quran and the holy books of others religions. The difference between Christianity and Islam can never be forgotten. It can only be understood.

I have read the Quran and I believe what Quran 5:116 says. That surah says:

‎وَإِذْ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَٰعِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ ءَأَنتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ ٱتَّخِذُونِى وَأُمِّىَ إِلَٰهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ سُبْحَٰنَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِىٓ أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِى بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُۥ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُۥ ۚ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِى وَلَآ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّٰمُ ٱلْغُيُوبِ

English translation:

And when Allāh will say, “O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘Take me and my mother as deities besides Allāh?'” He will say, “Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.

Indeed, The Quran is right here. Christ never taught about the Trinity or claimed that He is the God that seats on The Throne and to whom prayer should be made.

I have read Scripture cover to cover in multiple translations and in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. You will never see anyone in Scripture praying to Christ.

Everyone in Scripture, including Christ and the Holy Spirit prays to the only true God who sits on The Throne.

We see this in multiple verses, of which the most notable are Matthew 26:39:

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”-(NIV)

And in Romans 8:26:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (NIV)

Here, we read that the Spirit intercedes for us with God when we do not know what to pray.

The Trinity has not always existed. For the first 300 years of Christianity, there was nothing like the Trinity. The word does not exist in the Holy Scriptures. It was introduced by the Holy Roman Catholic Church during the First Council of Nicaea in the year 325 AD.

After the Council of Chalcedon decided to alter the nature of Christ and change Him from the Son of God to God the Son in AD 451, many churches broke away from Christendom and coalesced into what is now known loosely as Orthodox Churches, some of which reject the Trinitarian doctrine.

According to the official creeds of the Catholic, Anglican and the World Evangelical Alliance, the Trinity is a doctrine that projects one God in three Divine Persons, in which the three Persons are co-equal and co-eternal and omniscient.

Now, I am not going to give my opinion about the Trinity. Rather, I will let The Holy Scriptures speak.

Is there co-equality between God, His Son and the Holy Spirit? In John 14:28 The Son said “My Father is greater than I.” Obviously, that verse contradicts the first leg of the Trinity. During my investigations, I confronted a member of the US Southern Baptist Convention about this and I will quote his response verbatim. He said “Jesus was just being modest”.

Almighty God is omniscient. He knows all things. But is His Son omniscient? In Matthew 24:36, The Son said “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, NOR THE SON, but only the Father.”

It is clear from the above Scripture that only The Father is omniscient.

So where does the biblical authority for the Trinity come from? It comes from 1 John 5:7 in the King James Version. That verse says:

“there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

Now here is the problem. When you read the original Greek manuscript, that verse does not exist. This is not even an argument or controversy. It is a FACT. Both the Catholic and Anglican Church admit that those words are not to be found in the original Scriptures.

I know right now your religious spirit is telling you that Reno Omokri is deceiving you. Okay. Open any other version of The Bible other than the King James Version and read 1 John 5:7.

I will now quote it in the NIV, NLT, ESV and the Aramaic Bible in Plain English:

“there are three that testify”-NIV
“we have these three witnesses”-NLT
“there are three that testify”-ESV
“The Spirit testifies because The Spirit is the truth.”-Aramaic Bible in Plain English.

So where does the KJV get the part that justifies the Trinity? From men, not from God. Why did they do it? I do not know. But what I know is that many, if not all, the scholars who translated the Holy Scriptures into the KJV were high level Masons. It is said that King James himself was a Master Mason of the 33rd Degree (the highest level of Freemasonry). I have not been able to verify the one about King James. But that some of the translators of the KJV were freemasons is not arguable or controversial. It is a historical fact that is not even hidden.

Many Christians try to use John 1:1 to justify the Trinity. They quote it as “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

But that is not what it says in the original Greek manuscripts. I have The Original Manuscript. I tweeted and facebooked a picture of it. The first mention of God in the original Manuscript is Theon, while the second word used is Theos. These are Greek words that have significance. For instance, Greeks called Zeus, who is the head of their pantheon of gods, Theon. They call Zeus’ children Theos. For instance, Dionysius, the son of Zeus is referred to as Theos. When you translate John 1:1 to Latin, the first use of the word God is translated Deum. The second use is translated Deus.

People erroneously cite Philippians 2:6 in the KJV as justification for the Trinity. That verse says:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be EQUAL with God:”

Actually many scholars believe that is a wrong translation. If you read the original Scriptures, you will see for yourself that translations, such as the ESV, and the NASB are more accurate. They say:

“though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”

What this means is that Yeshu’a, our Saviour, did not try to be equal with the Most High. satan did it. The Holy Scriptures record satan as saying “I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”-Isaiah ‪14:14‬.

Yeshu’a had an even better opportunity to do what satan attempted, but He did not do it. That is why God promoted Him and said “in The Name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow, which is in Heaven and in The Earth and which is under The Earth.”-Philippians ‪2:10‬ (Aramaic Bible in Plain English),

But then some read the above verse and still use that to justify the Trinity. Before you do that, I urge you to read and understand 1 Corinthians 15:27-28. Those verses say:

“For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.”

I know this is a lot to take in. It is possible I have upset a lifetime of religious programming. However, you will agree with me that I have backed everything I have said from Scripture. I have said what I studied, researched, investigated and prayed over. I went physically to these places mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. I went to Israel, Rome, The Vatican, Corinth and Athens in Greece, Ethiopia and Palestine. I never wanted to do this. But I believe God will not be happy with me if I act the coward like Jonah.

A popular and well respected Pentecostal pastor, who agrees with these things, appealed to me not to reveal them. But I have achieved everything I want to achieve on earth. If I die without saying this, I will not be fulfilled.

Bear in mind that the Trinity did not exist for the first 300 years of Christianity. The doctrine was invented in 325 AD. What did Paul say about this?

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”-1 Timothy 4:1

Others will ask how this builds faith. My response to them is this-is faith built on a lie still faith or is it delusion?

However, I do not agree with Quran 6:101, which in Arabic says:

‎بَدِيۡعُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ ؕ اَنّٰى يَكُوۡنُ لَهٗ وَلَدٌ وَّلَمۡ تَكُنۡ لَّهٗ صَاحِبَةٌ ؕ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىۡءٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىۡءٍ عَلِيۡمٌ‏

And when translated to English, says:

“He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. How can He have a son when He has had no mate? And He has created everything and He has full knowledge of all things.”

What the Quran says in Quran 6:101 about Christ not being the Son of God, is a direct contradiction of what the God of Scriptures said directly from His throne in Heaven in Matthew 3:17 (“This is my beloved SON, in whom I am well pleased”).

It is the same thing as saying that that Voice which Spoke from heaven lied and I do not believe that our God is a liar. So, the best thing is that we agree to disagree without fighting each other.

The first person who actually made the statement to my hearing that we, Christians, worship the same God as Muslims, was not my friend, Daddy Freeze, but an Archbishop and former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, whose name a present leader of CAN has appealed to me to keep out of this article. I will only say that this fellow recently retired from his office as an Archbishop.

The fellow said that to my hearing on November 7, 2013. He said and I quote “we (Christians and Muslims) worship the same God. When we get to heaven we will know who is right”. Nowhere is that statement by Archbishop * supported in Scripture.

Two months ago, I saw Archbishop * at the Business Class lounge of Ethiopian Airlines at Addis Ababa, and he looked perhaps surprised when I walked past him and totally ignored him. I have nothing but contempt for Archbishop *. On the day he made the statement, I felt like giving him a piece of my mind. I was fuming!! I had to restrain myself because I was representing then President Goodluck Jonathan at the Interfaith Activities and Partnership for Peace and it was being aired on television.

You may say, it is unChristlike for me to have shunned Archbishop * as I did this past September. I direct your attention to Romans 16:17 “MARK them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the DOCTRINE which you have learned; and AVOID them.”

I have to say that that statement by Archbishop * undermined the faith of many believers. By saying (and it is caught on camera in case he tries to deny it), that “we worship the same God. When we get to heaven we will know who is right”, Archbishop * exposes the fact that he does not know his God and as Scripture says “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”-Daniel 11:32.

Beyond that, it also betrays the fact that Archbishop *’s faith is not certain because he says it is “when we get to heaven that we will know”. That is not faith. That is speculation.

Job 19:25 says, “I KNOW that my Redeemer lives”. (NIV). That is certainty! It does not say that I GUESS that my Redeemer lives and when I get to heaven I will be sure! I pray that Archbishop * gets an encounter with God.

Any faith that is built on ‘when we get to heaven we will know who is right” cannot rightly be said to be a faith. It is best described as gambling. John 3:16 is the cornerstone of Christianity. That verse says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVES in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Salvation is only for those who BELIEVE. That is why Romans 10:9 says “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be SAVED.”. There is no room for UNCERTAINTY. You must BELIEVE 100% or your salvation is questionable.

I appeal to you, if you are a Christian and you are reading this, do not force your faith on anyone. But much more importantly, do not compromise on your faith just to promote peaceful coexistence. Remember what Christ said.

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”-Matthew 10:28.

Finally, let me state categorically that to me, there is only one God, and He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Samuel, David, Daniel and Christ is the only Way to Him. I do not care who is offended by that. I will say that at pain of death. I do not have to go to heaven to know that this is true. A faith that you can only be sure of when you get to heaven is not blessed. For as Christ said “because you have seen me, you have believed: BLESSED are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”-John 20:29.

I might have been representing then President Jonathan that day on November 7, 2013, but I represent God every single day of my life. And that is of greater importance to me.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Avid traveller. Table Shaker. Hollywood Magazine Film Festival Humanitarian of the Year, 2019.