The power of God

What is God? It is a supreme being to whom humans attribute unlimited power, defined as omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.

In religion, God is perceived as beyond all, the creator of all things, the universe, the earth, and everything it contains. We believe so strongly in God's power that we send prayers to solve all our difficulties, simply because he is powerful enough to do so.

The question that then comes to mind is: if your God is so powerful, why are you a slave, dominated, unhappy, subject to the law and the desires of others? Worse, when those who oppress you pray to a different God than yours, what does that imply? Is their God more powerful than yours? And again, when you pray to the same God as your oppressors, what does that mean?

Let's take the case of Israel. Yahweh appears to Moses to deliver his people from servitude: Their God reveals himself to liberate his people Israel. "It is by my mighty hand that I brought you out of Egypt." The Old Testament and the Torah attest to this through miracles perpetrated by Moses's hand.

So, if your God is not capable of giving you freedom and you are in the chains of slavery (colonization), where then is his power?

Since 1948, the Jews created Israel, and since then, the Palestinians have been reduced to nothing. Between Allah and Yahweh, who then is powerful? When the Bible tells us that Yahweh revealed himself to Moses through the burning bush, it was not so that Moses would worship him, but worship would come later through the demonstration of his power. We do not pray to a deity that cannot solve anything in our lives—for what purpose? This is what is called religion: keeping people in servitude, preventing them from having rational thought based on logic and facts. Some will speak of faith, but "faith without works is dead." God must be powerful, and his power must be demonstrable and tangible; otherwise, it is a fable.

This is why the Old Testament tells us that Moses asked for signs, which were indeed confirmed to him. The same with Jesus when John the Baptist's disciples asked him if he was the Christ; he replied, "The blind see, the deaf hear, etc.," and to the Pharisees, he said, "If you do not believe what I say, at least believe what you see."

Allah is great! Yes, for Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer, but is he great for the Palestinians?

When a people enslave you, they impose a deity to worship because you have been defeated—the God of the victors is the strongest, and this is demonstrated throughout human history.

People exhaust themselves praying all day to something that degrades them, not to a deity but first to a man (the religious leader), who himself cannot in any way demonstrate the power of his God. An entire nation, an entire continent, has been in servitude for centuries. Where then is the freedom your God should grant you? This was the mission of Christ: first, to free people from the yoke of religious leaders who were themselves under the yoke of colonial power—at that time, the Roman Empire. Israel does not observe the Roman calendar; Saudi Arabia does not either. Jesus's message was clear: first, free the people from their religious leaders, because a people who begin to think for themselves cannot be colonized. This is the renewal of the mind: the freedom to think, reflect, and decide. From there, we can speak of revolution. This is the aspiration of any people aspiring to freedom. You are under Roman domination, and religious leaders speak to you of obedience to them! It is then impossible to envision decolonization. The crucifixion of Christ is the image of a people under domination, because the religious leaders first had to obtain prior authorization from Pontius Pilate. That is why the Catholic Church was a powerful instrument in the colonization of peoples, not to submit them to the direct authority of Rome, but first to religious leaders who themselves are subject to the metropolis. 

Religion is a submission to a religious authority that preaches obedience to a God who cannot free you from your servitude.

How can a human being who is mentally enslaved, subservient to a man, even think of greater freedom? This is how a nation of mental slaves is built. It is like a dog: when its master removes the leash, it will still follow him and even find its way back to its master's home. This is called conditioning, and when it happens over a long time, it becomes a custom, a culture.

Anyone who attempts to liberate a slave will become their enemy because they are comfortable and devoid of all rationality. This is how we have been tamed for centuries.

Your oppressor cannot therefore present or preach to you a powerful God so that you can defeat him. Otherwise, why would he have colonized you? Subjugated you? Enslaved you? If it were to give you the weapons to free yourself from the servitude in which he placed you? A robber does not come to your house to rob you and then give you his firearm—that would be his death sentence. 

This, dear friends, is why we must pray to a powerful God who frees us from all servitude, because no parent can be proud when their children are in slavery.

The most dangerous slavery is mental slavery, perpetuated by religion. This one lasts for centuries. This is what Plato explained through "The Allegory of the Cave."

God is powerful to free us from all kinds of chains. Who then is this God capable of doing so? Where is this God, and how do we find him?

The knowledge of this truth will surely set us free.

Marius Y. M. C. Oula