Loyalty

Loyalty

Loyalty: heartfelt attachment, firm, strong friendship, faithfulness.

Loyal: 1. Right, true. 2. One whose friendship and attachment are heartfelt; faithful.

Did you also know that this word loyalty, whose meaning is beautiful, is at the same time a feature that can be turned into a very dangerous state? Let alone its danger, it can also be very ugly. Do you say, I have never looked at it from this angle and never understood it? Yes, everything that is good is spoiled, changed, bent, distorted, made ugly and placed before us, thrust into our brains; it is forced down our throats with beauty, and if not, by force — and this is one of those. Yet why should loyalty be dangerous, harmful or ugly?

In fact thousands of pages of writings could be written, hundreds of thousands of unique examples could be given on this subject of loyalty. I will write in a surface way and take care to keep it as short as possible.

Although the exact opposite of this word, which arouses admiration when one looks at its dictionary meanings, is given as separation, in people it also arouses associations like traitor, ungrateful, coward, untrustworthy, slippery, fraudulent. Alongside beautiful features like loyalty, who would want to be like that? This feature exists in both animals and humans. That is, if we say it is a value we possess automatically from birth, it would not be at all wrong. Like every value, it is either worn down, crushed, trampled, destroyed, or developed, beautified, made useful, and gives peace and trust.

There are many stories about animals, thousands of wonderful examples that have been lived. The attachments they have shown on this subject of loyalty have been the theme of novels, films, legends. The loyalty of the horse, which has served humanity for thousands of years, its galloping fearlessly against spears, swords, bombs in war without blinking, truly does not accept mind and logic. On this subject God says to Job thus:

Is it you who gives the horse its strength, who clothes its neck with the waving mane? Who makes it leap like a locust? That horse whose proud snorting from its nostrils is terrible. With its hooves it paws the plain, leaps with all its strength, charges at the armed men. It laughs at terror and is not dismayed; seeing the sword it does not turn and flee. The point of the spear and the lance, the quiver, rattle upon it. Making the ground groan, with excitement it devours the distances; when it hears the trumpet's sound it cannot believe its ears. As soon as the trumpet sounds it begins to neigh “Aha!”, it smells the scent of battle from afar, and the thundering of the commanders and the war cries too. Job 39:20-25

These are astonishing and true words. After the horse, not to mention the dog will not do at all, because the dog's loyalty too is very famous. In fact, while examining loyalty in animals, it is impossible not to see aspects very different from that of humans. Indeed, most of the time their loyalty is unfortunately more virtuous than that of humans. For instance, if we take a dog or a horse, they are loyal without looking at their owner's sex, color, religion, belief, beauty, poverty, wealth, nationality, flag, knowledge, show, career, power and the like. It is fitting to say they are blind on such subjects. But to these things to which we humans give great value, animals do not even condescend. Well, was the human not created with features superior to the animal? God speaks and says thus:

God commanded, “Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures, domestic and wild animals, reptiles.” And it was so. God created all kinds of wild animals, domestic animals, reptiles. He saw that this was good. God said, “Let us make the human in our image, in our likeness,” “Let him have dominion over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals, the reptiles, and over all the earth.” (Holy Scripture-Genesis 1:24-26)

Here we clearly read that God gave His own features on earth only to the human, not to the animals. So then, when we compare the values I just mentioned with the realities in our world, why does the animal display an appearance superior to the human? Beside the animal that shows loyalty without looking at any of all those things I counted above, the human is more inclined to be loyal by looking at those things; that is, at sex, color, religion, belief, beauty, wealth, poverty, nationality, flag, party, knowledge, show, career, power, even down to the team he supports and the like. There must be a mistake here. Did God make a mistake and give to the animal what He should have given to the human, and to the human what He should have given to the animals? This is an absurd question, of course, but beneath the absurdity there is an impulse that requires us to think seriously.

Truly, to whom/to whoms must we be loyal, and what should this mean? What must be done to show loyalty? How is one loyal?

The simplest type that comes to mind is married couples. The spouses' not betraying one another means loyalty. On what subject must they not betray one another? Do you think it is only on sexual subjects, that the others are not so important? Lying, secret behaviors, with fraud, as if one is going toward or wanting some other target rather than one's real aim within, twisting those around one's finger, and whatever else there is. Tons of examples could be given, but even though for many people these are not pleasant, are they seen as somewhat bearable if they happen other than sexual betrayal? Which couple does not do these things I counted to one another? Besides, let us not say there is no couple that does not betray one another by way of sexual immorality; suspicions bring unhappiness. Well, where is loyalty in these? In the dictionary meaning of the word “loyal” the words <<Right and True>> occur. Who is right or true, that we should have such a family, society, nations and world? The loyalty I want to tell about and most want to emphasize is in a somewhat different direction. In fact, if one does not get to the root of the matter, what we do is only a pruning. The more you prune, the more lushly it comes out, growing by sending out more branches and twigs. If there is something harmful, if we do not destroy it from the root, with a little pruning here and there many more limbs, branches will emerge and it will grow with a stronger trunk.

In loyalty there are no such things as lying, secrecy, fraud, treachery, ego, and if there are, then that is not loyalty anyway. Who would want the one he is with to have these features? Neither thieves, nor murderers, nor even the mafias show tolerance and indulgence to such a one among them. If the most extreme segments cannot tolerate these, then naturally we are speaking of things no one likes. We both say, “it is a thing no one likes,” and our world is almost full only of these examples. We both hate it and do it. While we go wild when it is done to us, we may be doing it to everyone. From these truths, can we in short draw this conclusion: “If everyone entirely gave up the things they hate having done to themselves, then all humanity would already be loyal to one another” — can we say that? Of course we say so. Did the solution become very simple? It is indeed so, but we do not want it; they spoil it, we spoil it, we are overcome by our interests, our desires, our anger, our egos, our self, and most of all by the pressures that frighten us. Everyone betrays one another, lies, stabs in the back, trips up, pushes into the abyss; murders, wars, intrigues never end. Listen to the news of the world every day, it is full only of these. Almost all of those things they manipulate, bend, spoil, present in concealment and call news, still tell of these.

On the other hand, we have a world full of groups, institutions, religions, congregations, organizations, organizations, parties, gangs, terrorists that are loyal whatever happens. For us to be loyal to them, whoever or whatever they are, and to feel trust in their loyalty too, of course things like language, color, race, nationality, sex, the party one belongs to, the team one supports, power, captivating feature, career, power of imposition, the debt we have because of the gratitude we feel, etc. are factors that play an important role. Is it not already a fact that the practice in our world is exactly so, plainly evident? Well, what is wrong with this?

If two or three friends are together on a road, and the environment becomes tense as a result of one of them taunting another or behaving disrespectfully, disturbingly, or putting someone into a wronged position in any way, the other two friends are expected to take a stance beside him, without regard to right or wrong. To them, or to almost everyone, this is a loyalty! To leave him alone on the road they set out on together is treachery. This attachment begins first in the family, education is given in that direction in schools, in working life it is definitely expected, and it is the absolute expectation of states, armies, nations. Children are raised so that whatever father or mother does and says, they are always right. Even if, when the children become adults, they do not remain very loyal to their parents, they will continue to show that first principle they learned to others. And this happens either by a choice or by force. That is, a person either chooses the people, institutions, religions, congregations, organizations, parties, armies, nations he wants to be loyal to according to his taste, or, if by the requirement of circumstances he grew up among them or later entered them in line with his interests, he must automatically remain loyal to them. In fact this business is very much like a trade. If I give to you, you too will be loyal to me, and this means you will do everything I say without question and without objection. Since there are very many kinds, I do not want to go into their details, because the problem is at the root and to do the right thing is very simple, easy, but its price can be very heavy. What is the right of this subject of loyalty and the correct answer to the question in the title: to whom, to what, for what is it right to be loyal?

We just read a little earlier from God's words from the book of Genesis that there is a great difference between animals and the human. God created the human in His own likeness, His image. God gave of His own features to both the human and to His spiritual creatures in the heavens, that is, to the angels. What are they? Wisdom/being wise, Justice, Power, Love, and with all these features, Holiness. Do animals have these features? Yes, from time to time, but not all together. For instance, we said a dog is loyal to its owner, but it does not and cannot make distinctions like right-wrong, good-bad, just-unjust, holy-unclean. If trained they do, but this is only like an imitation. Not because they are wise, just, holy. It is like a parrot's talking, or according to its level of intelligence, according to its breed, it can go further, but still they do not possess human features. We make effort, train much, to teach animals human things, but the funny and bitter aspect of the matter is that we leave, spoil, destroy our human features and the values we received from that holy God, and try to imitate animals. We see that we make the abilities animals possess more sensitive through training and say, why should we not apply this to humans too. And we do not stop at saying it; indeed we begin to develop such systems all over the world to give humanity education in this direction. In short, at the root of the educations we receive, the aim has always been for us to show animal loyalty. However naturally we may possess good features from birth, with insistence and never tiring, never wearying, if necessary with violence, those features of ours are spoiled, worn down, even destroyed, and we can even turn into a treacherous monster toward our own kind.

Humans are curious, and those who research this curiosity with their own means are generally called mad, while those who do it taking a salary are called scientists. In the 1950s and 1960s some of such scientists tried to raise humans and animals together. They tried to raise a human, from infancy, together with a newborn monkey or dog or a chimpanzee. They even applied these to their own children. That is, the men do not do this business with bad intention. The baby monkey and the human, the dog and the human grow up together and they make examinations. As the years pass, that human who grows and develops turns into a very interesting shape. In each experiment, even though the aim was for the animals to show human development according to Darwin's theory, that is, to evolve, do you know what happens? Not the animal imitating the human, but the human imitating the animal. If it is a monkey, that animal it grew up with, the human begins to walk no longer straightened up on his feet, but on his hands like the monkeys. If it is a dog he grew up with, he does not eat with his hands, he eats and drinks the food, the water from the bowl using only his mouth, his tongue. He paws the ground, makes strange sounds, shakes himself and scratches like an animal. Because the human is a living being in need of education, they were not created with instincts like animals. Animals do what is useful for themselves without going to school, taking lessons, reading books. They possess this knowledge from birth; the reason it is called instinct is this. Since those scientists saw that the experiments failed terribly, they do not continue and abandon them, but those children, although dozens of years pass, cannot socialize among people for a whole lifetime because of their spoiled behaviors. However much they try to correct them with therapies given for years, it is plainly seen that these humans are spoiled. Unfortunately they have turned into a shape impossible to correct.

Although these experiments seem extreme, with the education humanity receives all over the world and the behaviors connected to it, the pressure on them, the works they put forth, you too may not be able to see that there is a spoiling. Indeed, one can be so blind on this subject that we should not be surprised at the existence of very sincere people who see our century as the golden age of humanity. With the technology we possess, the computers, the smartphones, the world may seem as if it were in our pocket. Communication and working conditions too, compared with the whip of the old slaver times, going to school, to work in luxury automobiles instead of donkeys, horses, oxcarts, listening to music with headphones, speakers that give a sound more beautiful than a concert, is of course something entirely different. These who defend this golden age are also definitely sincere, and the cunning is precisely here. If the aim is to spoil the human created in God's likeness, then it is essential to be cunning too. What aspect resembling its creator does humanity turned into a dog have, and how much is this in keeping with His aim? Are these words not too harsh? Let us see whether it is so or not. Do not fear, in the end you will make the decision.

Those I just mentioned, who liken the world to that golden age, cannot see that more than one and a half billion people do not have their own drinking water and toilet. Such things are not much announced. For instance, Germany does not announce the number of the homeless living in its own country, that is, those living on the street, and does not want anyone to know it either. Everyone can only make a guess. Imagine that every time you want to drink water, you could only satisfy it by searching like the animals in the field. Imagine that for your every toilet need, you again have to look for a place to do it, like those same field animals. Almost one out of every four people living in the world is in this situation. There are still figures we do not know that, when heard, are pitiful, and to understand what a base and funny situation we are in, one need not even be a human; almost even dogs would understand. The world of humanity is living a terrible imbalance. All values like justice, holiness, uprightness, love are trampled underfoot, crushed and destroyed. While some cannot find water to drink, on the other hand, with the water we spend only to wash our cars, humanity could meet every kind of water need. Is there no water in the world? Is it very hard to make a toilet? Is humanity not indebted to other people who are its fellow kind for everyone to have a house? Can there not be peace all over the world without a single bullet being fired? To not ask such questions, one must be a dog.

For some reason humans are very eager to establish dominion over others. History and our time have always waged the war of this. They continually create unrest and wars for the sake of who will rule the world and who alone will eat its fat, its cream. They stir up the peoples of countries, massacre nations, through the media they hold in their hands they aim for the humans they have turned into dogs to growl and in the end go to tear one another apart, and they are very successful too. How does a human, that is, a human created in God's likeness, do such things? In fact he cannot, and for this reason he must leave his human features and turn into a dog, if necessary a monster. Who is the human's greatest enemy on earth? Again it is the human, his own fellow kind. Was it for this, to come to this state, that we were created? Was this the creator's aim in creating the human? Let us see, let us read, what that aim was:

God said, “Let us make the human in our image, in our likeness,” “Let him have dominion over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals, the reptiles, and over all the earth.” God created the human in His own image. Thus the human was created in God's image. He created them male and female. Blessing them, He said, “Be fruitful, multiply,” “Fill the earth and take it under your control; have dominion over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, all the living creatures that live on the earth.” (Torah-Genesis 1:26-28)

To whom was this command given? It was given to the human, to humanity. What did they do? With their pressures over all humanity, over the animals, they turned the earth into an unbearable state and did and do everything to dominate over one another, to one another's harm. Alongside all these ugly things, the animals too, all the earth we call nature too, got and get their share, of course. Let us not understand the words “have dominion” here in a negative sense, or more accurately in the sense humanity has applied until now. On the contrary; it should have come about in a protective, sheltering way that gives peace, trust and happiness. In short, the garden of Eden, a part of which God created on earth, should have been worldwide. The command aimed at exactly this. Humanity, doing exactly the opposite, made the earth a thousand times worse than hell. And it would be unjust to say only humanity; we cannot deny Satan's existence just because we do not see him. Look at what Satan himself says about the earth and his power over the human:

Then the Devil, taking Jesus up to a high place, in an instant showed Him all the countries of the world. He said to Him, “I will give you the rule and the wealth of all these.” “These have been delivered to me, and I give them to whomever I wish. If you worship me, all will be yours.” (Gospel-Luke 4:5-7)

Was Satan lying here? Was he deceiving Jesus on the subject that the whole world had been delivered to him? No, Jesus did not say to him, “you are lying.” Let us go further back and listen to the events and dialogue in the heavens when the first human was created.

Truly We created the human from dry clay, from shaped black mud. And the jinn We had created earlier from poisonous fire. Behold, your Lord said to the angels: “I will create a human from dry clay, from shaped black mud.” “When I have given him shape and breathed into him of My spirit, fall down immediately in prostration to him!” All the angels prostrated. But Iblis was the exception! He refused to be among those who prostrated. (God:) O Iblis! What is the reason for your not being among those who prostrated? He said. (Iblis:) I will not prostrate to a human You created from dry clay, from shaped black mud, he said. God commanded thus: Then get out of there! You are now expelled! Surely the curse will be upon you until the day of resurrection! (Iblis:) My Lord! Then give me respite until the day they are raised again, he said. God commanded: “You are among those given respite,” “until the day of the time known in God's sight…”

(Iblis) said: My Lord! In return for Your leading me astray, I too will make (sins) attractive to them on earth and I will surely lead them all astray! Except Your sincere (clean, pure, unspoiled) servants among them. (Quran--15th Surah Al-Hijr 26-40 -- 7th Surah Al-A'raf 11-28 -- 38th Surah Sad 71-88)

The confusion begins first in the heavens, with the jealousy, the conceit of a spiritual creature, and connected to these, his rebellion. It is not in vain that it is said, “this world is a place of testing.” But only until a certain time, not forever. God granted Satan a respite; we are as good as at the end of that time too.

On loyalty I want to stay again with the dog, because the dog is the kind of animal they most strive to make us resemble. The dog is among the animals most friendly to the human. It is truly loyal and, compared with the cat, just as it is not at all ungrateful, egoistic, it does what it can for its owner and never spares its life. It hears sounds the human ear does not hear, and warns. Even the smallest lapdog charges at a giant of a man, as long as it can protect its owner. Like a crow, with its body it supposes itself a lion at that moment. It is bold like a horse. Its loyalty toward the place where it eats food is truly one of the most valuable known animals.

God in fact created, gave everything on all the earth for humanity, and abundantly at that. He fed, gave to drink, sated, protected, but we have never been loyal to Him, are not loyal. In fact we cannot be even as much as a dog, which they want to make us resemble. We acquire false owners for ourselves, owners, masters who work to the harm of us and at the same time of themselves too. In the end, if you follow the links of those dog chains, the end goes to Satan, and all are in fact playing the dog for him. Those who see themselves as the world's ruler and, with every kind of pain, blood, hatred at their command, make humans slaughter one another and watch from a corner, seeing themselves as of a kind without equal, are also dogs to Satan. We now know Satan's viewpoint of the human, his sympathy for him; we read it from the Quran. He sees the human as the reason that leads him to eternal destruction, to perishing. Now you think about his friendship for humans. His aim too is to show both his creator God and the whole world of spirits how worthless, base and vulgar humans are. For this reason he asked God for time. To prove it to the beings we call angels, who were once his brothers, created like the human in God's likeness. Although he knows that his end is eternal destruction, without ever giving up, tiring or wearying, he does his work with care and great cunning. He has a very great advantage compared with us humans. Let alone that he knows all the languages of the world, does not need things like sleep, food, drink, he is invisible and, besides the ability to speak into the human's mind, has countless superiorities. If a human had only the invisibility feature he possesses, he would probably rule the world. Imagine, whenever you want you become invisible, a spirit. You enter and leave everywhere and no one notices it. What would you not do. Besides, we have a sick, flawed body that ages and goes to death.

As long as the human does not spoil it, dogs live in keeping with their creation and are loyal to humans, especially to their owners. Well, who is humanity's owner? Let alone only humanity; who is the master of the whole universe, of everything seen and unseen? We know it is God. So then, at the price of trampling underfoot those features given to all our creation, resembling our creator, by turning our back on them, do we choose to be a dog to humans who have to go to the toilet, and call this loyalty too!!! Am I disparaging loyalty? On the contrary, I am speaking of the necessity for the human to be the most virtuous and unequaled, the only being on earth on the subject of loyalty. I am defending that that virtuous feature within us be far more holy than the dog's.

In Western countries the man is obliged to defend his wife's every wrong, and they call this loyalty. Their laws too are in this direction. If the man does not accept the woman's wrong, and — depending now on the situation — the woman shows him the door, the man is put out the door of that house whose debt he pays. If necessary he is thrown out by force of the police. His saying “the house is mine” does not seat him there either. They put forward the justification that the woman is in need and must be protected. Pay attention, now the event will be much funnier. The woman has betrayed her husband with another man, and the man at that time cannot swallow it, is having difficulty!!! Those Western civilizations have impositions and laws that cause a human to sink this low and to fall into a state even worse than a dog. Have you understood now how loyalty is bent, twisted, and made how ugly. The woman is not loyal, but the man is expected to be loyal, and like a dog at that. Because the human's loyalty is very different. True loyalty, the loyalty God placed within us, in our creation, is strong, faithful, a friend. A human who has these feelings does not accept the wrong of the one before him because he is a friend to him, he is faithful; that is, because he has feelings of attachment in his love, he tells the truth. And most importantly, because of his loyalty to HIS CREATOR, that human cannot, and must not, flatter the wrong of his fellow kind and, out of fear of being abandoned or of loss, be a partner in his evils and commit treachery. We read about the Messiah, the writing says, “He will deny the one who denies Him, but if they are not faithful He will remain faithful, because He cannot behave against His essence.” If we go from shape to shape according to the behaviors, words and attitudes of the one before us and lower ourselves to his level, it means we are behaving against our essence. If anger is enough to tear us from our essence, our nature, this is a sign that we are in a very weak, cowardly, pitiful state. And believe this, no loyal human covers the wrongs of the one he loves, defends them, encourages him, and fights for that evil. This is precisely what a dog does. That lovable animal is blind on these subjects and they were not created with those human features. Again, though very rarely, there have even been dogs that show virtuous features.

Alongside the expectation of loyalty between spouses, there is also a loyalty of nationalism, patriotism. I can give the Germans as an example on this subject. The more their politicians, their media, their society fan enmity against foreigners, the more the people remain loyal to it. In short, it becomes a part of that hostile attitude, and lovingly at that. A leader like Hitler emerges, all of them do much more than him, and when they lose, they say, “we did not know.” I plainly call such loyalties enmity. Enmity to whom? I call it plain enmity to one's own country, nation, the people of one's house, one's husband or wife; they, however, call it loyalty. Again in Germany, sometimes within a week, 42 places where refugees and Turks are located are set on fire, arsoned, and no one cares, they do not even make it the subject of the news. I hope you are beginning to see the ugliness I indicated in the title of the subject. Whenever every family, society, nation, race, religion, army or whatever begins to call these ugly things loyalty, it means it is going to an eternal unhappiness, wretchedness, nonexistence and in the end to destruction.

Does our creator God not expect loyalty? Does He too not want us to be loyal to Him unconditionally? Yes, there is no authority over us higher than Him and no one who has a right like His. Well, how does He want us to be loyal? What does He expect from us, or from the human He created in His own likeness, or from the angels? Come, let us hear this directly from God's words:

…you shall be holy to Me; for I the LORD am holy. (Holy Scripture-Leviticus 20:26)

Here is how true loyalty is. Does God want from us something that will not be, that is impossible to come about, that we cannot do? If it were so, He would be called “one who does not know what He wants,” but He commands this to us, so then it is possible.

The Holy Scripture covers a time of 4 thousand years; the Quran, which came about 600 years later, and the subjects it mentions briefly, are again of the same content. Humanity is always a turncoat and always does the same filth, adorning it and lovingly, and then says, “I had no knowledge”!!! Yes, it says it if it has not perished and remained alive.

An experience that occurs in the Holy Scripture came to my mind. The tribe of Benjamin of the people of Israel. I will copy it from its place exactly as it is. On the subject of understanding what loyalty can turn into, this is an event that was lived, separate from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah but very instructive.

In that period when Israel had no king, there was a Levite living in a remote place of the hill country of Ephraim. The man had taken for himself a concubine from the town of Bethlehem in Judah. But the woman betrayed him with other men. Then, leaving the man, she returned to Judah, to her father's house in Bethlehem. After the woman had stayed there four months, her husband got up and went to her. He wanted to win her heart and bring her back. With him were his servant and two donkeys. The woman took him to her father's house. When the father-in-law saw his son-in-law, he received him with joy. He kept him beside him. The man stayed in their house three days, ate and drank with them and spent the night there.

On the morning of the fourth day they rose early. The girl's father said to his son-in-law who was preparing to leave, “Take it easy, eat a morsel of bread, then you will go.” The two sat down and ate and drank together. The father-in-law said, “Please stay this night too, enjoy yourself.” When the son-in-law rose to leave, his father-in-law insistently wanted him to stay; and the son-in-law spent the night there. On the fifth day he rose early to leave. The father-in-law said, “Take it easy, eat something; in the afternoon you will go.” The two ate together.

When the son-in-law rose to leave with his concubine and his servant, the father-in-law said, “Look, evening is coming, please spend the night here,” “The day is about to end. Spend the night here, enjoy yourselves. Tomorrow you will rise early and set out on the road, go home.” But the man did not want to spend the night there. Taking his concubine, he set out with two saddled donkeys. They came to a place opposite Jebus -Jerusalem.

When they drew near to Jebus, the day was about to end. The servant said to his master, “Let us enter this city of the Jebusites and spend the night there.”

His master said, “We will not enter a foreign city that does not belong to the Israelites,” “We will go to Gibeah.” Then he added: “Come, let us try to reach Gibeah or Ramah. We will spend the night in one of these.” Thus they continued on their way. When they drew near to Gibeah, a city of the Benjaminites, the sun had set. They turned onto the road that goes to Gibeah to spend the night. They went and stayed in the city square. Because no one took them into his house.

In the evening hours an old man was returning from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim. He was living in Gibeah. The people of the city, however, were Benjaminites. When the old man saw the travelers in the city square, he asked the Levite, “Where do you come from, where are you going?”

The Levite said, “We come from the town of Bethlehem in Judah and are going to a far place in the hill country of Ephraim,” “I am from there. I had gone to Bethlehem. Now I am returning to the house of the LORD. But no one took us into his house. There is fodder and straw for our donkeys, and bread and wine for myself, my concubine and my servant. We are all ready to serve you. We lack nothing.”

The old man said, “Let your heart be at rest,” “I will meet your every need. Do not spend the night in the square.” He took them to his house, gave fodder to their donkeys. After the guests had washed their feet, they ate and drank.

While they were resting, the riffraff of the city surrounded the house. Beating on the door with all their might, they shouted to the old householder, “Bring out that man who came to your house, that we may lie with him.”

The householder went outside to them. He said, “No, my brothers, I beg you, do not do such an evil,” “Since the man has come to my house and become my guest, do not do such a base thing. Look, my daughter, who has never known a man, and the man's concubine are inside. Let me bring them out, lie with them, do to them whatever you wish. But do not do this evil to the man.”

But the men did not listen to him. Thereupon the Levite forcibly brought his concubine out and handed her over to them. The men lay with the woman all night, until morning, and raped her. At dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman came to the door of the house where her master was staying, fell down and collapsed on the ground. She stayed thus until it grew light.

In the morning the man rose, opened the door to continue on his way. When he saw his concubine lying full length on the ground, her hands on the threshold, he said to the woman, “Get up, let us go.” The woman did not answer. Thereupon the man put her on the donkey and set out on the road toward his house.

When he reached home he took a knife in his hand, divided his concubine's corpse into twelve pieces and distributed them to the twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone who saw this said, “Such a thing has not happened, has not been seen, since the Israelites came out of Egypt,” “Think it over, what we must do, tell us.”

War Against the Sons of Benjamin

Beginning with Gilead, from Dan to Beersheba, all the people of Israel set out and gathered as one body before the LORD at Mizpah. All the tribal leaders of God's people Israel were present at this gathering. They were four hundred thousand foot soldiers who wield the sword. -Meanwhile the sons of Benjamin heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah.- The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this terrible event happen?”

The Levite husband of the murdered woman answered thus: “I entered the city of Gibeah in the region of Benjamin to spend the night with my concubine. Some men from Gibeah came at night, planning to kill me, and surrounded the house. They raped my concubine and caused her death. I took her corpse and cut it into pieces, sent each piece to a region Israel has taken as inheritance. Because this base disgrace was committed in Israel. O Israelites! Here you all are. Tell me your thought, your decision.” All those there, as if with one mouth, said, “None of us will go to his tent, will return to his house,” “What we will do is this: We will attack Gibeah by lot. To provide food to the people, we will choose from all the tribes of Israel, according to their populations, ten of every hundred, a hundred of every thousand, a thousand of every ten thousand. When these come to the city of Gibeah of Benjamin, let them take vengeance on the townsfolk for this baseness they did in Israel.”

The Israelites gathered against Gibeah were in complete unity. The tribes of Israel, sending men to the tribe of Benjamin, asked, “What is this baseness done among you?” “Hand over to us at once those riffraff in Gibeah. Let us kill them and root out the evil in Israel.”

But the sons of Benjamin did not listen to their Israelite brothers. To fight with the Israelites, they came flocking to Gibeah from the other cities. Apart from the seven hundred chosen men from the people of Gibeah, the number of the sons of Benjamin who came from the other cities and wield the sword reached twenty-six thousand that day. The seven hundred chosen left-handed men too were among these. All of them were marksmen good enough to strike a hair with a sling.

Alongside the sons of Benjamin, the Israelites too were counted. They had four hundred thousand soldiers who wield the sword. All of them were fierce warriors.

The Israelites who went up to Bethel asked God, “Which of us will fight first against the sons of Benjamin?” The LORD said, “The sons of Judah will fight first.”

In the morning the Israelites rose and pitched camp opposite Gibeah. They advanced to fight with the sons of Benjamin and took up battle order at Gibeah. The sons of Benjamin who came out of Gibeah laid low twenty-two thousand of the Israelites that day. But the Israelites, heartening one another, took up positions where they had taken up battle order the previous day. Then they wept before the LORD at Bethel until evening. They asked the LORD, “Shall we go out again to fight with the sons of Benjamin, our brothers?”

The LORD said, “Yes, fight with them.”

Thereupon on the second day the Israelites again drew near to the sons of Benjamin. The sons of Benjamin too, the same day, marching out from Gibeah upon them, laid low eighteen thousand more men. All who died were warriors who wield the sword.

All the Israelites, all the people, withdrew and returned to Bethel. There they stood before the LORD and wept, fasted that day until evening. They offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. God's Ark of the Covenant was at Bethel at that time. Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron was serving before the ark at that time. The Israelites asked the LORD, “Shall we continue to fight with our brothers the sons of Benjamin, or shall we give up?”

The LORD said, “Fight,” “for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”

The Israelites lay in ambush around Gibeah on all sides. On the third day they moved against the sons of Benjamin and took up battle order opposite the city as before. The sons of Benjamin who went on the attack moved quite far from the city. On the main roads going to Bethel and Gibeah, in the fields, they began to inflict losses on the Israelites as in the previous clashes; they killed about thirty.

“We are routing them again as last time,” they said. The Israelites, however, said to one another, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city, to the main roads,” and going out from where they were, took up battle order at Baal-Tamar. Those lying in ambush west of Gibeah also suddenly leapt from their places. Thus ten thousand chosen men from all Israel attacked Gibeah from the front. The battle had grown fierce. The sons of Benjamin were unaware of the disaster that would come upon them. The LORD routed them before Israel. The Israelites that day killed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of the sons of Benjamin who wield the sword. The sons of Benjamin realized they were defeated. The Israelites let them pass; because they trusted in those lying in ambush around Gibeah. Those in ambush suddenly attacked Gibeah. Scattering throughout the whole city, they put the people to the sword. A signal had been arranged between those lying in ambush and the other Israelites: they would set the city on fire and form a great cloud of smoke. Then the Israelites on the battlefield would suddenly turn back.

Meanwhile the sons of Benjamin had begun to inflict losses on the Israelites, had struck about thirty. As in the earlier battle, they supposed they had routed the Israelites in a decisive defeat. But when they turned and looked at the city, they saw there the cloud of smoke rising to the sky like a column. The smoke of the burning city had covered the sky. When the sons of Benjamin saw that the Israelites had turned back, they panicked. Because they had sensed the disaster that would come upon them. Though they headed toward the fields ahead of the Israelites, they could not escape the battle. The Israelites who came from the various cities surrounded and destroyed them. They chased the remaining sons of Benjamin. They struck them down along the road, all the way to the place opposite Gibeah, east of it, where they had camped. Eighteen thousand men of the sons of Benjamin were struck down. All of them were valiant warriors. The survivors turned and began to flee toward the fields, toward the Rock of Rimmon. The Israelites killed five thousand more of these along the road. Following them step by step as far as Gidom, they struck down two thousand more.

The total number of those killed of the sons of Benjamin that day reached twenty-five thousand men. All of them were valiant warriors who wield the sword. Those who fled to the fields and took refuge at the Rock of Rimmon numbered six hundred. They stayed at the rock four months. The Israelites returned to the cities of Benjamin; they put the people, the animals and all the living there to the sword, and set on fire all the cities they came upon. (Holy Scripture-Judges chapters 19 and 20)

In this event, alongside the tens of thousands of innocent people who fought, almost a tribe too perished, why? Yet if they had handed over to God's justice those among them who committed that base and vile behavior, and corrected themselves too, they could have been saved and these things would not have been lived either. But no, they were loyal to one another! Is it not plainly evident in this event what kind of loyalty is spoken of? These examples are not at all unfamiliar to our time either. Especially the rulers of the countries we call “civilized,” powerful, “advanced,” and those nations loyal to them. Although more than about 3 thousand years have passed since this event, we recall those people with a curse. A day will come, and what we live in our time too, and our understanding of loyalty too, will be set down in writing, and the coming generations will read them with a curse. Where will we take a stance, to whom will we remain loyal? How will we ensure that our name is recalled after us?

A speaker of a religious organization called the Jehovah's Witnesses takes a black-covered Holy Scripture in his hand before tens of thousands of his members and raises it up and says, “If our governing body says this book is white, it is white,” and those tens of thousands of members rise to their feet with great enthusiasm and hold that speaker in a rain of applause. All those members, without exception, believe — are made to believe — that only they are worthy to enter the paradise God will set up. Do you suppose that only this religion, which preaches all over the world using God's personal name, is so? No, all of them are so. Whether under the religious guise with God's name, whether military, whether politics, whether scientists, whether education, whether instruction, whether hospital, prison, terror in the name of freedom — whatever institution, body, organization and whatever comes to your mind, in all of them in one way or another there is the finger and pressure of Satan. And that pressure is to make you leave your humanity, your justice, your wisdom, your love, and your creator God, to whom you are indebted down to every breath you take, to make you trample the holy values underfoot. Holding the very end of the links forming the chain, Satan aims for you to be a dog to him. Here, this is the loyalty our world expects from humanity. The human sees this pressure from his child in the cradle, to his wife in his bosom, from his mother and father, to the friends he supposes he loves most. Because Satan prods everyone and makes the circumstances such a dead end that you suppose there is no other remedy at all. Yet there are always remedies for remaining a human.

You have not encountered tests other than the tests everyone encounters. God is faithful (trustworthy); He will not allow you to be tested beyond your strength. So that you may be able to endure, He will provide, along with the test, the way out too. (Gospel-1 Corinthians 10:13)

Although people are insidiously manipulated and forced to be dogs, many people lovingly prefer to show dog loyalty, even though no one forces them. The prophet David at once gave such people their tip. While for almost all rulers or ordinary people this kind of loyalty caresses their egos and makes them drunk with pleasure, people of the David type hated it. Come, let us read that event too from its place, from the 4th chapter of the book of 2 Samuel of the Holy Scripture.

Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, set out. When they came to Ish-bosheth's house in the heat of midday, Ish-bosheth had lain down to rest. They entered the house as if to take wheat. At that time Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom. The men ripped open Ish-bosheth's belly and killed him. They cut his head from his body and took it with them.

Recab and his brother Baanah fled and went all night along the road of the Arabah. They brought Ish-bosheth's head to King David in Hebron and said, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who wanted to kill you!” “Today the LORD has taken vengeance for our lord the king on Saul and on his seed.”

But David answered Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, thus: “As the living LORD lives, who has saved me from every trouble, the man who told me Saul was dead, supposing he brought good news, I seized and put to death his life in Ziklak. That was the reward I gave for the good news he brought! Far more certain is the death of evil men who killed a righteous man in his house, on his bed! Now shall I not take vengeance for him on you by destroying you from the earth?” Then he gave a command to his men. They killed the two brothers, cut off their hands and feet, and hung them by the pool in Hebron. As for Ish-bosheth's head, they took it and buried it in Abner's tomb in Hebron. 2 Samuel 4:5-12

David was someone who could not bear, could not rejoice at, but on the contrary felt hatred for, even the injustice done against his enemies, and he was such a man; because these virtuous, superior features of his pleased God very much, the LORD loved David. Please make a comparison with the present rulers, especially the rulers of those states that rule the world, and their nations. All cunning, with deceit, merciless, ambitious, insatiable, monster-like enemies of humanity. They see being so as a necessity too, and have convinced — more accurately deceived — those around them, themselves, saying, “otherwise we perish, we cannot reach our targets.”

It is the loyalty of our world's humanity that it is always expected from the lower class, the lower ranks. That is, while the powerful are not obliged to be loyal to anyone, the powerless must always be loyal, because there is a reality that they are both powerless and in need. About God's servant Jesus the Messiah, a verse again says thus:

This is a trustworthy saying: ‹‹If we died with Him, we will live with Him. If we endure, we will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He too will deny us. Even if we are not faithful, He will remain faithful. Because He cannot behave contrary to His own essence.›› (Gospel-2 Timothy 2:11-13)

The understanding of loyalty of God's servants is in this way, and they do not behave against their own essence.

The fear of the LORD is the foundation of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs of Solomon 1:7)

The importance of knowledge is in fact always truly very great, and especially in our time it carries an even greater importance. Here we are not speaking of every kind of knowledge; we are speaking of the divine knowledge that comes from God, that is revealed. We do not mean engineering knowledge on making atoms, mathematics, physics, chemistry. By means of the knowledge we call divine, we gain the ability to distinguish good from evil. Because we do not have this foundation, our world is in a dead end. However much we suppose what we invent and how much we have advanced, we do that much more harm to our surroundings, to humanity, to the earth. Because we either do not have the knowledge of good and evil, or we have trampled them underfoot, thrown them behind us.

Our world is in a terrible chaos on the subject of good and evil. While in one place drinking beer is a great crime, in another place one almost bathes in whisky and, as if it is no crime, it gathers sympathy. Again, while in one place going about stark naked is quite normal, in another place a woman showing a strand of her hair is regarded as shameful and is even a crime. Again, while in one place rats arouse disgust and they are destroyed, in another place one eats with them at the table and they are treated as holy. Many such examples could be given. Every society, religion, organization, nation defends that it is right. Well, if it believed it was wrong, it would not do that thing anyway. Because we are not like animals, we were created in need of education. For this reason the human is the creature in need of its parents the longest. Animals generally stand up as soon as they are born and in a short time can look after themselves. The human, however, was created so as to be in need for long years. Since the subject of how the parents, society, the surroundings, the school education given will evaluate this time of need is very important, Satan first laid his hand on these systems. He knows better than us the saying, “a tree is bent while it is young.” In short, and what I want to say plainly, is that the knowledge of God is not at all so easily obtained. Do not let the existence of a temple, a sanctuary, a church, congregations set up at every corner with God's name deceive you. This does not mean that you will find there the knowledge of attachment to God, of true loyalty, of the distinction of good and evil. The knowledge meant is obtained by researching directly from His words, with our creator Himself, sincerely, with a whole heart.

Wisdom cries aloud outside, raises her voice in the squares. She cries out at the head of the crowded streets, makes her words heard at the entrance gates of the city: ‹‹O simple ones, how long will you love simplicity? How long will the mockers take pleasure in mocking? How long will the senseless hate knowledge? Come to your senses when I warn you, then I will open my heart to you, I will help you to understand my words.

But when I called you, you rejected me. I stretched out my hand, no one cared. You ignored all my counsels, you did not want to hear my warnings. For this reason I too will rejoice at your calamity. When trouble befalls you, when your calamity comes upon you like a storm, like a whirlwind, when you fall into distress, into anxiety, I will mock you. Then you will call me, but I will not answer. With all your might you will seek me, but you will not find me. Because you hated knowledge. You refused to fear the LORD. You did not want my counsels, you despised all my warnings. For this reason you will eat the fruit of the way you took, you will be sated with your own deceitfulness. The naive will be the victim of their turncoatness. The senseless will perish in their carelessness. But the one who listens to me will live in safety, will not fear evil, will find peace.›› (Proverbs of Solomon 1:20-33)

On the subject of knowledge God warns us seriously, with harsh words. It is possible to find everywhere these books, mostly free, obtained at most for the price of about 2 packs of cigarettes. It is possible to obtain all these books we hear of as Torah-Psalms-Gospel together under the name “Holy Scripture,” and if we say the Quran, again so. Those who have smartphones can load these programs onto their phones, tablets for free and read them. We live in an age in which knowledge is the most widespread and easily obtained, and just as much hated. There are many reasons like laziness, insensitivity, our not having the habit of reading. While all these are so, for some reason humanity goes and finds it easier to be a donkey in a stable. To research peacefully and freely, on one's own, seems very hard; one goes and serves a door one does not know at all, whose results one cannot predict. And if they put honey on his mouth and say, “we will give you work, a job, a position,” he does everything. They say, “When you were a nobody, you can become a policeman, a chief, a prosecutor, a judge, a pilot, a general, a governor, a deputy, a singer, a theater actor… whatever you want, only with us,” and they do it too; these promises of theirs are not a lie. Yet that human, without even noticing, slowly, with the feeling of doing a holy duty, is stripping off his humanity and turning into a dog. He is attached, as if worshiping, to whoever or whatever now gives all these, and is cut off from his real creator. He is not even aware of it. According to him, in fact he has become a human ever since he entered among these. While he was someone valueless, pushed around, whose face no one even looked at before, now everyone rises to their feet when they see this, falls into line. Now you go and tell this person that these things are wrong. This is how easily those divine values we received from God are sold. For what? Until when? What is the end of this business? If you become a dog and are trained so, you cannot even ask such questions. Because those masters have an aim with you and expectations with the bones they throw before you.

You have seen in American films, those trainings given to raw recruits. The sergeant comes right up to the tip of your nose and, with all his might, scattering spit, shouting, addresses/provokes you. They await the smallest disobedience to give you hell. The aim of the whole training is precisely this. Where you have come from, from what kind of family, what kind of education and so on do not concern them. As if you concern them? No, you either serve a single aim or perish and go. The word loyalty there turns into a command. They command, and it must be carried out without question. These things cannot be otherwise either. They too know that everyone believes his own mind is the best. If everyone pulls in a direction, how does this army march? Impossible.

Satan's aim is plainly evident, and he draws to destruction, together with himself, that humanity he hates. What need is there for long words, it is this simple. The loyalty I mentioned above is not as simple as that in the family, between spouses, friends; its dimension is worldwide. As technology and humanity increased on earth, they also became masters at misusing every good feature in the human. The desire to see the dog's loyalty in the human goes back a very long way. Once you have turned a human into a dog, it is no longer hard at all for him to call good evil, evil good; right crooked, crooked right; darkness light, and light darkness. Those millions of crowds become as if a single body.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter! Woe to those who see themselves as wise, who suppose themselves intelligent! Woe to those who know no limit in drinking wine, who do not refrain from mixing and drinking liquors, who for the sake of a bribe justify the evil, who take away the right of the righteous! …says God (Isaiah 5:20-23)

You can make a human who has turned into this state do everything. He no longer possesses human features. They work with all their might so that the kind of human they try to shape in our world will be like this. With all their media, their TV, their films and series, their newspapers and magazines, their education and schools, their hospital or soldier, their terrorist or murderer… whatever they have at hand, they use them solely in line with their own ugly aims. All of them, en masse, knowingly-unknowingly, willingly or by force unwillingly, in one way or another serve Satan's aim. A human who turns into this type of creature kills God's prophets, stones them, chases them, and unites against them and opens wars. Our time is not slow as before; everything develops very rapidly. Things that formerly took a hundred, two hundred years can in our time be changed within 3-5 years, even sometimes within months.

We must decide to whom to remain loyal. To be resolute we must acquire knowledge. This knowledge unfortunately is not written in the newspapers and magazines; it is almost impossible for us to find it on televisions, on YouTubes, or on Facebooks. No one but our creator can teach us good and evil. We must take this knowledge directly from its source, from the words set down by the prophets of God, without separating any of them.

Say: “We have believed in God and in what was sent down to us; in what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and their sons; in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and to all the prophets by their Lord. We believe in them without making a distinction between any of them, and we have submitted only to God.” (Quran-Al-Baqarah 136)

Whoever applies this verse that occurs in the Quran alone, it means he is preserving his human feature. He now has the knowledge to make the distinction of good and evil, right and wrong, holy and unclean. Let us decide; God Himself wants everyone to do this with free will. Even though Satan and his world never want to leave us free on these subjects, it is possible.

Someone said to Him, “Lord,” “will the number of those who are saved be small?” Jesus said to those there: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate. Let me tell you this, many will want to enter but will not be able to.” (Gospel-Luke 13:23-24)

and again in another place:

“Enter through the narrow gate. Because the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road is broad. Those who enter through this gate are many. But the gate that leads to life is narrow, and the road too is hard. Those who find this road are few.” (Gospel-Matthew 7:13-14)

Our creator warned us more than enough. If we have thrown all these warnings of His behind us, who shall help us now? In the last verses of Revelation, the last book of the Gospel, these words occur:

Then He said to me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words of this book,” “because the awaited time is near. Let the one who does evil still do evil. Let the one who is filthy continue his filthy works. Let the one who is righteous still do right. Let the one who is holy remain holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon! The rewards I will give are with me. I will give to everyone the recompense of what he did. I am the Alpha* and the Omega*, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” “Happy are those who wash their robes, thus earning the right to eat from the tree of life and to pass through the gates and enter the city! The dogs, the sorcerers, those who commit fornication, the murderers, the idolaters, all who love the lie and practice deceit will remain outside.” (Gospel-Revelation 22:10-15)

Amen