One God One Message - Prologue & Contents

Your Story shows how your own story can be forever linked to your Creator’s story.

Do you think like this?

"Your Bible is a corrupted text that has been rewritten, added to and re-edited from the very beginning to match your sick beliefs."

"You got the old and new testaments in which words have changed. In the holy Qur'an the words have been the same over the years."

- Two of five e-mails addressed in chapter 3

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The Book

Prologue & Contents

PROLOGUE

"For the good works you’ve done, you deserve to go to paradise, but for the message you preach, you deserve to go to hell!” said the village elder to my friend.

My friend and his wife had spent ten years of their lives in this man’s village on the edge of the Sahara. They had established an irrigation project and a medical clinic. They had also explained the message of the prophets to any who cared to listen. According to the village elder, what had my friend done to “deserve to go to paradise”?
He had done “good works.”
And what had he done to “deserve to go to hell”?
He had taught “the message” of the prophets according to the Bible.
Was the village elder right in his assessment of my friend’s works and message?
Was he half right?
Was he entirely wrong?
If you are not sure what to think, then this book is for you.

WHERE
I was born in America, but this book was born in Africa.
The site: Sahel region of Senegal, West Africa.
The setting: The predawn call to prayer is ended. Pink and orange wisps of morning’s first light silhouette a sandy, thorn-tree-studded horizon. The temperature is deliciously cool, but that will soon change. I sit on the porch of our village house with my laptop. A piece of clear plastic taped over the keyboard shields it from the Sahara dust suspended in the air. Except for the occasional bray of a donkey and crow of a rooster, the village is silent. The only sound I now hear is the tapping of fingers on the keyboard as thoughts become words and words become text.

WHY
I write because the One who has blessed me with life, joy, peace, and purpose has given me something to write about.
I write from a heart of respect and love for my Muslim friends, especially those in Senegal, where my wife and I have brought up our three children and spent most of our adult lives.
I write because in recent years I have received more than a thousand e-mails from Muslims around the globe. Their thought-provoking comments and questions must not be ignored.
I write out of empathy for those weary of religious leaders who offer little more than circular clichés such as, “The Bible is true because it says so!” or, “The Qur’an is true because no one can write a book like it!”
I write because I am struck by the human heart’s inclination to believe anything but the consistent message of the one true God.

WHAT
One God One Message offers the chance of a lifetime: to take an unhurried journey through the world’s all-time best seller and to discover the message of the prophets who wrote it. Those who take part in this pilgrimage will be given the opportunity to overcome countless obstacles (Part I), penetrate mysterious realms (Part II), and break out into a glorious kingdom of magnificent panoramas and satisfying truth (Part III).

WHOM
This journey is designed primarily for monotheists—those who believe in one God. Nonetheless, polytheists and pantheists, humanists and atheists are equally welcome. The adventure is for anyone who estimates his or her eternity worth a dozen hours. That is about how long it takes to read this book aloud.
Whatever your background, whatever you believe or don’t believe, you are invited to join this epic journey through the Holy Book so many claim to honor, yet so few choose to ponder.
Three thousand years ago, a prophet offered this prayer to the Creator and Owner of the universe: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” (Psalm 119:18)
Though we may not like all we see, let us not fail to see.

Your fellow pilgrim,
P. D. Bramsen