Address by President Peres at Interfaith Conference in Kazakhstan
We all share the same God, who created man in His image and called him to sanctify life, uphold the covenant of peace.
(as I read this I cannot help but reflect on the passage in Isaiah)
Isaiah 28:15, says ‘O ye scornful men, ye leaders of Israel, because ye have said we have made a covenant with death and with hell, you are in agreement when the overthrowing scourge shall pass thru, and it shall not come unto you. Know ye then, ye scornful men, that I will destroy your covenant with death, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, and when the scourge shall pass thru, they ye shall be trodden down.’
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev,
Religious leaders,
I thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important gathering which aims at building a better world: A world of justice, a world of fraternity, a world of peace.
Your decision to initiate an interfaith dialogue in your country can serve as an example for the rest of the world, a world that parts of it seem to have forgotten that we all share the same God, who created man in His image and called him to sanctify life, uphold the covenant of peace, to follow in a good and straight
While the monotheistic and humanistic believers, Christians, Muslims and Jews, used to believe that there was just one God for all, compassionate, merciful and righteous, there are nowadays others, luckily a minority, that sanctify a different God, a God that permits massacres, forgives cruelty, and calls upon his believers to destroy, kill, lie and ruin.
This distorted stream constitutes a defamation of the Lord. It is not a religion, it is a crime, a crime against God and man. We must separate religion from terror. This should be a common effort by all believers, regardless of faith, creed or gender.
I recently spoke to His Holiness the Pope when he visited the Holy Land, and he too joins this endeavor. It so happened that his visit took place when our scientists concluded a development of new wheat, that has four heads instead of one. We call it enriching wheat. People should enrich wheat rather than enrich uranium.
Many Muslim religious leaders also expressed their concern at the terrible correlation between religion and terror. And my friends, the Chief Rabbis of Israel, have strongly condemned those that call the name of God in vain, and in His name kill innocent people. Thousands, if not millions of Muslims, have lost their lives at the hands of extremists that call the name of Allah. In the Twin Towers of New-York, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and atheists, all lost their lives as one.
Cultivating interfaith ties of understanding and friendship is vital, not only in interfaith relations, but in the religions' perception of God.
The first question is always whether God created man in His image, or whether man is trying to create God in his compromised image. Whether we should adopt God's moral code, or whether we should refer our personal desires to God.
The real concept of monotheism is that God created all human beings in His image, that we were all born equal, and that none of us has the right to appoint himself as a superior force. Only God who created man has the right to determine life. The one that can not give life should not end life. God had no partners in the creation of the world, so there is nobody that can declare war against.
Bolshevism advocated Baz Buzinkiut - an ideology without God. They believed it would be possible to attain social justice without the moral values of God. Bolshevism failed to achieve justice, it failed to discard God. For humanity, it would be difficult to live without a God of justice and without a God of peace.
Our sixth commandment expresses the major point of humanities struggle in the 21st century: "Do not kill." And it is said in the Holy book Leviticus: "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. This leitmotiv of our religion is that "All human beings were created in the image of God."
We must stand up and reject fanatics, and to oppose promoters of hatred and conflicts. Their so-called god is not our God. Their faith is not our faith. Our answer to them is to hold and encourage peace initiatives.
We are aware of the big change which has occurred in the positions of a majority of Arab countries towards peace with israel: a transition from the three Khartoum "no's": no to negotiations, no to recognition, no to peace - to the three "yes's" of the Saudi Initiative.The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, King Abdullah II, defined this a readiness for peace between the State of Israel and 57 Arab and Muslim states.
Here, from this platform, with your permission, Mr. President, I call upon the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, the initiator of the Arab peace plan, to meet in Jerusalem or in Riyadh or to travel to Kazakhstan, and together with other Arab leaders we will all be able to realize your vision, our vision and the vision of all believers in our shared God of peace and justice.
Together with the participants of this prestigious conference, we must stretch our hands one to the other, in a spirit of mutual commitment and a prayer for peace and prosperity in the world; for the brotherhood of man, for his freedom, health and well-being; for social justice, and progress, while respecting our separate and unique heritage and differences.
We have the right to be equal, and we equally have the right to be different. And swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and wars will be forever a thing of the past.
Let it be. Amen.
By making treaties with countries committed to their demise, the Israelites are fooling themselves into believing that they’d be exempt from those countries’ plans for expansion and conquest. In truth Israel’s policies of appeasement would generate agreements based on wishful thinking that would be quickly broken whenever the enemy found it convenient to do so. It proved to be true with the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Syrians, the Romans, and lately the “Palestinians.” This policy will finally culminate in the ultimate self-deception. A treaty with the anti-Christ will just about bring them to ruin.
The Lord had Isaiah warn His people that there was only one man in the world they could trust, and that was their Messiah. Only He would deal justly and righteously with them. All others, even their supposed friends, would lie to suit their own purposes, which would always run contrary to Israel’s.
This is to be, however, because only after they are betrayed will they seek God and the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.
“Come, let us return to the LORD,” they’ll cry. “He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” (Hosea 6:1-3)
“Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
And their Messiah Jesus, Who has been waiting for over 2000 years for them to say this, will respond. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zech 12:10) The long promised New Covenant will finally have come to God’s people. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. (Zech 13:1)
Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. (Zech.14:3-4)
The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name. (Zech 14:9) The One Who is faithful and true will have fulfilled His every commitment to them, and as King of the whole Earth He’ll have the power to make it stick.
Awaiting the true King, Jesus....