Islam / The Procopius Portrayal of Justinian

Islam

Islam is monotheistic religion, whose “holy” book is the Qur’an. It is also composed of “prophetic” tradition of Muhammad. The Islam’s consider Muhammad to be the last “prophet” of God.  Even if many people might think that this religion is very close to Christianity, or at least sounds like it, it is not.

In the Islamic religion, there is only one God, but no trinity. Instead, they believe of Jesus being only a prophet, and not the son of God. May I ask you, how can the Islamic religion seem like Christianity when it casts out Jesus, when Christianity is all about Jesus? Driving out the essence of Christianity just makes it anti-Christian.

Believing that Muhammad was the last of the prophets of God goes against the Bible.

Revelation 19:10

I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”

If there is no prophecy, then Jesus is not there. The Spirit of Prophecy testifies Jesus. Even more, how can I call a prophet, someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus? Even if this person says to have had an encounter with an angel or God, how can I believe him when Jesus is not there? Then it didn’t come from heaven.

2 Corinthians 11:14

And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.

If the founder of the Islamic religion is unreliable and anti-Christian, what can we expect from the religion itself? Then it surprises me not, when he was unable to convert the Jews into Islam.

The Procopius Portrayal of Justinian

Justinian I was a Byzantine Emperor, later to be known as the Roman Emperor. He sought to revive the greatness of his empire, and get back the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire. During his reign there was a man named Procopius of Caesarea.

Procopius was a late antique scholar, who accompanied the Roman general Belisarius. He became the principal historian of the 6^th century. In his writings “The Wars of Justinian”, “Buildings”, and “Secret History”, he also described Justinian.

Procopius wrote that Justinian’s character was at times villainous, and amenable, or in other words a moron. He said he was never truthful, that his nature was a mix of folly and wickedness, that he was devious, false, hypocritical, two-faced, and cruel, a liar always, a faithless friend, a treacherous enemy, and insane for murder and plunder.

He wrote: “How could anyone put Justinian’s ways into words? These and many even worse vices were disclosed in him as in no other mortal: nature seemed to have taken the wickedness of all other men combines and planted it in this man’s soul… He became the cause of universal poverty… Now this was the character of Justinian, so far as I can portray it.”