Finally!

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Even though many readers argue exactly the opposite, I have tried to keep the subjects I write about quite short. I admit that sometimes I may have gone on unnecessarily, and I apologize to you for that. As I have said, someone reading these writings of mine for the first time will perhaps not understand many things. Yet they may perhaps come to some understanding about the outcome, and even that only perhaps. For this reason, alongside knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the Quran, a hunger for spiritual values is essential. More than anything, one also needs to investigate whether all these things are so, and to have understanding. Nor do I expect you to understand almost everything simply by reading this book. At the very least, if you pay attention to what you read, you will in time understand how right or wrong I am. I hope that time will not be too late for you.

Whether it be the Witnesses or people who are members of other religions, in the end their common characteristics all closely resemble one another. Without anything being explained, without being told how and on what grounds a thing is going to be this way or that, and even when it is explained, without understanding it; indeed, without those members even wanting to understand, they accept the information given to them just as it is and say they “believe it with all their heart”! When the meaning of a subject is asked, generally they go “hmm,” think for a moment, and then either produce a heap of clumsy, empty words, or if they are sincere, laugh and say, “Well, I hadn’t quite understood it either.” This is no joke; those people really have sacrificed their entire lives for things they do not understand, and if necessary they have died for them without batting an eye. Sometimes someone like me comes along and says different things about these subjects; then, even though they do not understand, like a drunkard who notices that the tone of the music has changed, they too notice it and are seized by a feeling within themselves that “this one is not one of us, this is a dangerous person.” Do not for a moment imagine that the people I am describing are ignorant, foolish, uneducated, or that they come from such societies. The people I am describing are American, German, French, English, Japanese, and many others — they are all the same. The people of these countries come before you with the comfort they possess, the education they have received, the things they have invented, their modern homes, cars, and the orderly, clever work they do; and yet when it comes to God they blindly defend that religion which they are caught up in, which they do not understand at all and do not wish to understand. Against a person whom they sense holds another belief, they not only defend that religion of their own — which they possess from birth but do not understand, do not believe, and do not apply in their lives — but if the means are available they will, if necessary, even wage war. They will even labor to destroy that person with all manner of bombs, missiles, tortures, and every kind of weapon. How dare those enemies have had the audacity to criticize and disparage the religion he automatically acquired at birth!

As for the politicians who instigate such hostilities, in truth they take no interest whatsoever in people’s religions and the like. Their concerns are other things: money, oil, self-interest, the war over seats of power. But this is the morale that is fed to those brainless soldiers who serve as pawns. However much they are made to be like robots, a soldier too is a human being. Do not think of the Witnesses as separate from these people just because they do not go into the army. They, for their part, are far more obedient robots. And of the kind that neither hears, nor thinks, nor can decide, nor wishes to see!

Again, what am I trying to say? If I tell you one of the questions I have often put to the Witnesses, perhaps you will understand. After discussing and debating a subject with them at great length, in order to make them aware that they hold a fanatical, blind belief, I would ask them this: “What I have been explaining — this belief, this idea, this rule, whatever it may be, which you so heatedly oppose — if your governing body were to proclaim it, would you have any problem believing it?” And upon my saying this, most of them would immediately reply, “Oh, in that case I would accept it.” A very few, because they understood what I meant, would wriggle out of it, saying, “But then they would have to explain it to me,” trying to create the impression that they obey them as though they understood everything. Yet when those people proclaim something, or when they explain it, they pay no attention whatsoever to what you think or believe, to the agonies that tens of thousands have suffered for such a belief, to their being crushed and destroyed. And if anyone among them so much as mumbles “um, well,” they send him flying with a kick. And as they send him off, they do not deliver that kick saying, “You opposed us”; they cast him out from among them saying, “You opposed Jehovah God; this kick too came to you from Him.” Whatever these men do, it is God who is making them do it! Even the kick is really delivered by God! Oppose it if you dare! And that resentful person, looking back as he goes, burns within himself saying, “Ah, what have I done!” In his own eyes he really has received this kick from God. Even if he believes he is a hundred percent in the right in the matter he opposed, over the years these people have manipulated the consciences of such persons in this way. Moreover, among them there is no distinction of just or unjust, fair or unfair, right or wrong. Whatever the case, to disobey and oppose them means to oppose God Himself. And, as some of the smart alecks among them say, supposedly they must first explain to him the thing he does not accept! At that moment, while he is quarreling with you, he will have proven himself to you with a pose as if his faith rested on the most solid foundations — how manly, how gallant, how honest and upright! Those who do not know them, who are unaware, fall for these tricks. If only people were as they puff themselves up to be and say they are. At least then they would not be donkeys. Yet their systems of education are just like the feelings of homeland and nation instilled in military armies. Just as love of the fatherland is instilled in a German, so too is loyalty to their organization instilled in these people. However virtuous, superior, gentlemanly, and trustworthy in his word the men or the kings of the state regarded as the enemy may be, whom they oppose; indeed, even if his own king, his own comrades, are far lower morally and ethically than that society, that soldier never once even entertains the thought of crossing over to the other side. This is the greatest betrayal. For the other side the situation is the same. Even if someone from the opposing side crosses over to their own, according to them too this is a great betrayal. However much they use that person for their own interests until the war is over, they never trust him. For they too reason among themselves about that person: “If in another war this man sees that the armies and nation of the opposing side possess a morality, ethics, and qualities of justice superior to ours, who can know whether or not he will switch sides against us?” And so, not even keeping such a person alive within their own ranks, they kill or destroy him gently. An accident occurs, he is poisoned, his heart suddenly stops, and so on. And for such people who are on the side of righteousness, they organize very grand ceremonies! They erect their statues. They write their names in their histories with praise. But in reality all this is show. In truth the rulers destroyed those people because they sensed that they could not hold sway over them. What they need is human-type robots who will carry out their orders unconditionally, blindly, at any cost, recognizing no obstacle. The other type — that is, people who can think, who possess the ability to discern, who have free will — are, to them, filth. The physicist Albert Einstein’s barely escaping being destroyed for being a Jew, saving his life by chance, and America’s taking him under its wing, is also a fine example of what I am describing. And now, shamelessly, they boast of him as a “German Nobel Prize winner in physics.” Their boasting, too, is not because of that person’s character, but because he was German — the aim, once again, being to draw for themselves a share of the glory. As if Einstein set great store by being German! When it suits their purposes they make him a German; when it does not, they make him a Jew.

What a terrible belief and education we possess! I say this not as a nation, but for the sake of humanity, taking it across the whole world. This is the moral education that our world tries to instill in us. When we read of God’s servants, of what they did, of the examples they left behind, the difference between them is so vast that it cannot even be compared.

To two brothers who killed a king who could be called an enemy of the prophet David as he lay sleeping in his bed and then joyfully brought his head, saying that “the Lord had granted him vengeance,” David in his day replied as follows: (Apparently such people too always did these deeds in the name of the Lord!)

But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them: “As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings! (Yet King Saul was one who had always unjustly sought to kill David)

How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house, upon his bed, is their death certain! Shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?”

And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth (the king they had killed), and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron. 2 Samuel 4:9-12

We have read the reward David gave to those who put on the air of bringing joyful news — as it seemed to them — even for the mistreatment of one who sought David’s life, who was his enemy. Yet the death of that person meant for David becoming king over the whole country. But David was not thinking of these things. This means that David, no matter who it was, no matter against whom, displayed the superior qualities he possessed toward everyone, and wanted everyone else to be that way too. Were such a thing done in these times, those men would be given medals and proclaimed heroes in the newspapers. Germans set fire to Turks’ homes in the middle of the night every single day, and it is not even permitted to be reported in the news. Supposedly, disorder is being prevented! A Turkish thug beats up a German, and all the newspapers and parliament rise up in arms. A seventeen-year-old, two-meter-tall spoiled German thug rapes a thirteen-year-old English girl by force, and the entire press and public become enemies of Turkey and the Turks, asking why that thug was arrested. He is nonetheless released from prison in Turkey within a year, while the Turk who beat up the German is given a twelve-year prison sentence. As for those who set fire to Turks wholesale, they are neither caught nor punished. When we look at these examples, we cannot help but see how different the present-day understanding of justice, morality, gallantry, and obedience is from that of the servants of the true God. Moreover, David was not a person blinded by labels. Even though he thought about the kingship, he saw it as a gift given to him by God, a duty, indeed at times a great responsibility, heavy to bear. For David, being king meant serving his people. Not in words, but in deeds and with all his heart, David was such a person. And besides, the most important aspect that concerns me in this matter is the grief David felt over the death of someone who, in a sense, stood in the position of his enemy. Yet was it not God who wanted him to be king and who, for that purpose, anointed him over Israel? Right at that moment, after all the troubles he had been through, he had not a single enemy left. And these two men who took his side, thinking they had performed a great act of sacrifice, courage, and heroism in their own eyes, come joyfully to David. And David has their heads struck off! Is this a thing that can be? Why did David not rejoice that his enemy had died, but instead grieve?

Because David’s aim was not merely to consider his own interest, to obtain the kingship. Nor did he possess a mentality and a heart’s disposition that would deceive itself, saying, “At any cost — and besides, did God not anoint me as king? Surely He too willed it this way.” David’s stomach could not take joining a wrong deed to his own interest and saying, “God willed it this way,” and deceiving himself by saying, “If this is an evil, I did nothing, they did it, I have no guilt.” He did not sell himself for such things. David actively did holy works that were righteous, honest, virtuous, and marked by superior qualities. And as long as he did them, God was with him. When at times he sinned, his punishment was great. And God did not hide His anger toward him. But in the event I mentioned above, David grew great in God’s eyes; he did not diminish. Where is the morality, gallantry, honesty, ethics, and understanding that God gave to human beings; and where is our own understanding, our gallantry, our nationalism, our obediences, our loyalties, our heroisms that we try to create! And on top of it, while doing such crooked deeds, we shamelessly use His name. Is it for nothing that in Romans 2:24 God says through His apostle:

“...the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” !

Here I have given only a single David as an example, by chance. There are so many more that to write them all would not fit into books. Therefore, whatever happens, let us think not only of ourselves, and not of base and petty things just because we were taught them that way; let us think of superior, divine values. Let us know what these are, and, learning from the One who created us and the whole universe, let us embrace with love true virtue, holy things, gallantry, justice, freedom, love, righteousness, mercy, and those who do all these things — whoever they may be, from whatever nation, race, or color of person. Let us not sell ourselves even to those who never do these things, by breaking our neutrality, by deviating from justice and righteousness. David did not act according to the injustice and wickedness of his enemy. He lived with a character that would represent a superior personhood toward everyone. With the awareness that he would be accountable before God for his own deeds, he clung to virtuous works. In spite of his errors from time to time, he did not slacken. Let us too cling to these things. As I said, without inquiring into the identity, the label, the nationality, the race, the sex of those before us. For twenty years I learned these things from God. God looks at those who do the superior qualities I have listed — and the ones I did not list in order to be brief, indeed the ones I do not even know how to list — and He chooses them. Without looking at anyone’s identity, where they live, their past, where they came from, or which religion, nation, or race they belong to. (2 Chronicles 16:9; Ezekiel 18:1-32) All those who turn back from their evil ways and come to Him, whoever and whatever they may be, God accepts. (Ezekiel 18:32)

When I look back, the things I regret from those twenty years that passed were only my own mistakes and wrong deeds. I have never regretted those twenty years spent with the Witnesses, nor the empty customs and bad habits I left behind. Had I not entered among the Witnesses, perhaps I would neither have become so zealous and acquired knowledge about God, nor would I have learned of their filthiness, however much they conceal it. I could not have gained the experiences I possess, and I could never even have guessed how people sell themselves and make themselves slaves for such empty things. In fact, do people not already, for one reason or another, disparage one another and hate one another? But there is a great difference between those feelings of theirs and the things I call “what I have learned.” I acquired this knowledge, these experiences, those ugly things resting on proofs, and how they do them in the name of God, by sincerely believing in them. At the outset my aim was neither to oppose nor to make enemies. People feel hatred toward one another because of each other’s evil deeds. With an easy and clean conscience I confess that I do not recall having done evil to any of these people, or having expected any gain from them. My sibling, born of the same mother and father as me, also entered among them. Years later, confessing openly, he said that “among the reasons for starting there was everything except God.” Many people are like him. Not only in their relations with the Witnesses, but always, and with whomever they may be, the thought of seeking God is a feeling they have never sensed, from near or far, anywhere. There are billions of people who hold this disposition of heart. Moreover, through them I learned not only bad things but good things too. That they themselves did not practice them was no concern of mine. If, with the information I have given, I can help even a single soul to be saved, I say that all those years I spent were worth it. Even for a single human soul, is its salvation not worth all the struggles, all manner of hardships? To me it is worth it — even if it be only one, it is worth it. And this way of thinking, too, I learned from the Messiah.

“How does it seem to you? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine and go into the mountains and seek the one that strayed? And if he should find it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” says Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 18:12-14)

Had I not seen and come to know the Witnesses, how would I have known the Quran? Would I have investigated it in this way? I learned the Quran thanks to the unwitting encouragements and provocations of people who are enemies of the Quran. And it is the same for the Holy Scriptures. Again, I did not throw away the Holy Scriptures by looking at the Muslims. Had it not been for that Holy Scripture which they say was “altered,” I could never — but never — have recognized and understood the deceit, the lies, the hypocrisy of the Christians, and most importantly, God. By these I do not mean particular individuals one by one. I see this when I take those books as a measure and compare them by looking at the religions. Muslim and Christian are no different in this respect. There is a difference of cellophane and packaging, that is all. The insides of them all are, unfortunately, the same.

The things I learned were never a burden to me. I felt joy from what I learned about God. Thank God that He let me taste this joy in freedom. Had I been a member of any religion, I believe that I could never have walked this path with joy. Indeed, my breaking away from God too would have been a strong possibility. Listening to those who gave talks at the Witnesses’ meetings, I regarded, on my own behalf, as a privilege. But among themselves, by seeing people cast eyes full of anger at one another over why so-and-so had not come to the meetings, I realized how much they were doing this thing by force. Because he himself did it by dint of compulsion, they raged out of envy at another’s indifference, at his freedom. Otherwise, this false concern they displayed was not because they sought that person’s welfare or loved him. They were angry, thinking, “Why doesn’t he too come like us and suffer the same distresses?” As for me, I was only bewildered, and at the outset I could not even understand it. But I knew very well that the same things existed in Islam too. Because a person does not fast, or did not come to Friday prayers, the pressure those people face, depending on the community they are in, is no small thing. Especially the one who does not go to the festival prayer — I have seen and heard much of how they never take him back among them, and even refuse to do business with him. As for me, if a very fine speaker had come that day, I would feel sorry on behalf of the one who had not come, and would try, as much as I could keep it in mind, to relate the talk to him afterward; but if a bad and boring speaker had come, then this time I would rejoice on behalf of that person. I would say, “It’s a good thing you didn’t come, otherwise you would only have slept from boredom.” To them, however, people like me are very dangerous. Whatever happens, one must always come, and whatever happens, one must always praise, and whatever happens, one must always obey! In my view, by these things they are openly saying, “Learn now to be a two-faced and dishonorable person.” What they actually accomplish is to destroy the joy between God and His servant. And every one of them is a diligent, hardworking missionary working toward this aim.

I do not wish to prolong the book. It has already grown long enough. I believe that through this book too I will earn the hatred of many. In fact, I have written nothing new. None of this is a new idea either. In every age people have known what these religionists are. Either they have distanced themselves from them, or they have secretly hated them. And if they had the strength, they destroyed them. I am not in favor of anyone being destroyed; there should be freedom. Along with this, I know from the prophecies that very little of their time remains. Whatever the case, if through my book I have been able to give you even a single drop of knowledge, how happy that makes me. Truly, only a drop. If you are thirsty, if I have been able to stir your longing, then, in order to drink your fill, acquire the knowledge of God that God commands of everyone, that He asks separately of each of His servants. And apply it in your life. Being a slave to no one but God, without fear, thrusting aside your empty interests and pleasures, do this with joy. I neither graduated from faculties of divinity nor studied theology. Had I gone to such places, I believe they would have taught me everything except God, everything far from Him. These things, which I have written of as being only a drop, I learned and understood as an ordinary, simple person. God has no need whatsoever of the veeery wise, the learned, the powerful of this world. On the contrary, He says that in order to shame them, God chose the despised and seemingly useless things of this world. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31) And I am not ashamed to be one who is despised and, according to this world, useless. Whether it be the spelling errors in this book I have written, or from grammatical errors to faults in sentence construction, please overlook my shortcomings and my ignorance. Since those called writers and artists are busy writing fairy tales that please people and displaying their bodies, I too, being presumptuous, took such a duty upon myself. I did this not because I was worthy of it, but because I felt myself compelled to. With a Turkish I have nearly forgotten, I took great care to make this book understandable to everyone. As they say about us, we could learn properly neither Turkish nor German; they did not teach us. I also know how journalists mocked the Turkish of a footballer of Turkish descent who was born, raised, and became famous in Germany. Yet those journalists who mocked, not knowing a single foreign language themselves, who knows what jugglery they perform in the language they think they know. For this reason, please, let whoever would criticize this book criticize its content. Not its commas, its letters, its sentences, its grammar. I accept and confess that I am not qualified in these matters. So again and again, forgive me.

Beyond the spelling and grammatical errors, regarding the hatred many people will feel toward me over the content of this book, I would also like to say the following. If these writings of mine are baseless and false, then those persons, those establishments, those organizations have no need, I think, to fear or to be angry. Who am I, that you should gnash your teeth at me? Is not the reward and the punishment of everything in the presence of God? If those who are angry at me see themselves as being in the right in the thing they are angry about, and rewards await them in the presence of God, then hellfire will fall to me! For this reason, should they not rejoice on their own behalf and grieve on mine? But no — if these things I have written are exactly like what I have described; indeed if, for even one-millionth of the reasons I have spoken of, God’s great anger is being provoked, then I will grieve on their behalf. I will say, “Why did they not repent and turn back from all these evil ways of theirs?” Since everyone will therefore give account on their own behalf, it is a terrible thing too to fall into the hand of the living God. For our God is at the same time a God who takes vengeance. More than the religions and organizations, I counsel the very individuals who have become members of them to come to their senses. For whoever may accuse those establishments, they, on their own behalf, are always innocent; they are servants under orders! For this reason let everyone look to himself and not hide behind excuses. For such excuses will save no one.

I have had readers who accused me politely, and those who praised and commended me. Some accused me of spreading false prophecy. I am not a prophet, that there should be a false one of me. My writings supposedly carry the meaning of prophecy! If every teaching that gives an explanation from the Holy Scriptures and the Quran becomes prophecy, then what is it that all religions do? And it is those who accuse me who, unfortunately, do this most of all. I would not be ashamed to be a prophet. If I were a prophet, I would not shrink from saying so openly. But how can I claim a thing that is not? It may be that the historical information and understanding I have written or believed are wrong. I simply have not read anything more correct! And no one has shown me anything more correct, or could show me, or did show me and I was not satisfied and could not believe it. But no — if they cannot even tolerate anyone speaking other than themselves, I believe that with this kind of intolerance they possess, they will bring only themselves and those who follow them to ruin. And even if I am wrong, I am sincere. I have no gain, no expectation from anyone. Nor have I tried, nor am I trying, to make a donkey of anyone so that he would carry my burden. If I keep silent, if he keeps silent, if no one speaks, how are we to attain the correct understanding? For thousands of years the humanity of our world has seen what the religions have given us. They labored to take even that atom of truth in people and destroy it. If the number of those like me increases, what will those freeloading religionists, accustomed to sucking human blood, do? This has become a source of livelihood for them; would they want it snatched from their hands? There is already competition enough among all sorts of religions and sects. Would they then tolerate those like me who blurt out this and that at every turn?

Farewell, with the wish that you all remain in the peace that God will provide.

İhsan Kiper

Germany, Friday, August 13, 2004

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