'The people of the book' vs. transhumanism
I've had harsh words for the Islamists in recent articles relative to their attempted re-conquest of Israel through terror and international cultural pressure, but I've not changed my missionary heart toward the Muslim people on a case by case basis, and I think there are opportunities for evangelism through cooperation against the great, emerging common threat of transhumanism.
The "people of the book" is a phrase used in Islam to acknowledge the common roots of Muslims, Jews and Christians as a basis for cooperation. The best example of that doctrine in practice was in the "Golden Age" of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain), when there was (especially from the Jewish perspective) intermittent relative harmony under Muslim rule for several centuries. A modern example of the doctrine is President Trump's Abraham Accords. Cooperation is possible, as I can personally attest, and may soon be necessary in the face of rising transhumanist villainy.
Before the plandemic, I was developing a side-ministry called the Bible Study Cruise Network for holding nondenominational daily Bible studies on the largely unworked mission field of cruise ships. (Remember, Christ's Great Commission says to "Go ye into ALL the world" – not just the slums.) On a 2017 cruise from Sydney to Singapore, we made a stop on the island of Java, where Anne and I very much wanted to see the world wonder called Borobodur – an ancient Buddhist temple complex carved out of the jungle after being lost and hidden in a gorgeous remote valley for a thousand years. Unfortunately, the ship's cost for getting there was prohibitive, so we set out on foot to seek our own alternate adventure locally.
Intimidated by the dangerous-looking neighborhood just past the port entrance, however, we turned back, but were stopped by the police/military squad guarding the gate. The sergeant of the trio grilled us about our intentions, and upon learning that we were thwarted in our desire to visit Borobodur, abruptly said "Wait right here, I'll take you myself." He then handed his rifle and bandoleer to his subordinates, got his car, and took us on a long and wild ride through the lawless jungle roadways of Java – to and through the gate of the Borobodur complex, using his authority to get us VIP treatment. Along the way we had a wonderful discussion of theology. Even though he was a strict Wahhabi Muslim, he gushed eloquently about the common grounds for harmony among Muslims and Christians. But then, with remarkable vehemence, he looked me straight in the eye, and said "But NOT the Jews."
Being by then miles from port in third-world conditions and completely dependent upon this man for our safety, I held my peace and deflected to another topic, remarking on how amazing it was for a devout Muslim to be helping devout Christians to visit a Buddhist holy site. We further explored the topic of universal values rooted in God's natural order and became email friends for a year or so before losing touch.
I was well prepared for that conversation because only the year prior, I had been asked to travel to Muslim Kyrgyzstan to help pass protection for natural marriage in the national constitution. I learned only on our ride from the airport to the guesthouse that our host was not a Russian Orthodox Christian, as I believed, but a Muslim. My mind instantly flashed back to articles I had published in the previous years strongly critical of Islam and wondered if we would survive the trip. But our host was a thoroughly gracious man whose behavior would have made me assume he was Christian if he hadn't said otherwise. Long story short, the amendment passed, and I invited him to co-publish from Bishkek my precis on universal values, titled ""The Declaration of the Natural Life Movement." We have been friends by email ever since and plan someday to attend the Nomad Games together (Central Asia's version of the Olympics).
After returning from Bishkek, I bought a copy of "The Quran: With References to the Bible," jointly published by Muslims and Christians wanting to facilitate a more objective approach on cross-creedal issues, and I began promoting the idea of Christian/Jewish/Muslim cooperation against what I now summarize as the "transhumanist agenda." I argue that's the next, rapidly developing, phase of the LGBT culture war, which will dominate after "transgenderism" breaks the world's children free from their natural moorings to the natural order of sex and family.
However, pushback against my cooperation-with-Muslims effort was very strong by some Christians in my support base. I realized I was still far ahead of the curve on transhumanism and moved that effort to the back burner, reintroducing it slowly as events made it more understandable to people. It's not that I disagreed with their genuine concerns about Islam and Muslims, but I knew they had not yet perceived the true threat of transhumanism, which makes those religious differences (politically, not theologically) less important in the big picture. It's ideologically akin to leftists on the "nutty-crunchy" environmentalist side of the progressive spectrum only awakening to the importance of conserving the natural family when they finally recognize the family as the "human eco-system" being destroyed before their eyes. Once they see the issue as a question of "natural vs. artificial" rather than "left vs. right," they become reachable. In both cases it takes time and a climate in which the ever-worsening consequences of "progress" force reasonable people to rethink their views.
This morning I woke with the intention of writing an article on the imminent, explosive rise of robots as a component of the transhumanist agenda and assumed I'd be breaking new ground with it. However, the first item of interest I found in my email as I sipped my coffee was a link to a Leo Hohmann article on Substack: "Invasion of the humanoids: No, this is not science fiction!" making the same points I intended to make. As I wrote in an email to him, "If I weren't familiar with the working of the Holy Spirit in the realm of dreams and visions I'd think this 'coincidence' uncanny."
The big takeaway I offer my readers from this is that massive changes loom on the horizon equivalent in their cultural impact on civilization to the industrial revolution or the invention of the internet. But in practical terms this leap will be much bigger in consequence because it poses an existential threat to the meaning of being human, and the very real prospect, perhaps even the inevitability, of humanity being usurped by transhumanist creations that will (by 2030 according to Musk, Netanyahu and the head of OpenAI) pass beyond our ability to control. It represents the end of God's rule over man and the beginning of man's rule over God – or so it is imagined in the delusional minds of the transhumanists.
For those with a biblical worldview, it is the rise of the "Beast." The "Created Thing." And for all the "people of the book" it represents a threat so dangerous and so contrary to the several fundamental values we share, we should stand against it TOGETHER.
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