A whopping 85% of members from mainline churches such as Methodist, Lutheran, United Presbyterian understand there is more than one way to Heaven. Catholics weighed in at 79% who said Jesus is not the only way to salvation. In Texas, the so called buckle of the Bible belt, 65% said you can get to God by your religion of choice.
Are you surprised at these overwhelming numbers of acceptance and tolerance? I’m not. We have been observing a growing willingness of people in America to reject Biblical Christianity in favor of an eclectic homogenized form of religion which has as a supreme goal of religious tolerance.
Many claim it is offensive and even bigoted to say that the Christian faith is superior to others. How dare someone say that Jesus is the only way to Heaven and salvation is found in Him alone.
The exclusivity of Christ is the major point of resistance by most unbelievers and it is a volatile discussion among friends and family members. Of course when you begin with the cultural relativism that pervades our times and believe that all truth is relative, you soon conclude that it is not just one truth that is absolute. Yet the concept of God alone being our Savior is common in both the Old and New Testament. For example, Isaiah 43:11 “I, I am the LORD, and besides me is no Savior.”
God our only Savior, sent His only Son, Jesus, to provide salvation. Jesus is called our Great God and Savior in Titus 2:13.
“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. That includes the world of all religions, all races, all nations and generations. The love and grace of God is inclusive of all but it is exclusive in that only Jesus can save.
Jesus claimed this in John 14:6.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."The apostles proclaim it in Acts 4:12.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.This is the difference of the Christian faith and all the religions of the world. Religion is man’s effort to please God and earn eternal life. But Jesus came because we cannot save ourselves and He died and rose again to give us a hope and future with Him in Heaven.
Without Jesus we have only the puny efforts of religion that cannot save or even help to save. We need so much more than religion – we need a Savior. It is true…one religion is as good as another – none of them can save from sin and provide eternal life. Only Jesus saves.
The problem is people don’t want Jesus. They want a religious salad bar to pick and choose what they like and want to believe. People choose idolatry – a designer religion, rather than the one true God and Savior.
One final word on this today. Is tolerance and acceptance of all gods really a virtue? Paul commends the warnings of the Old Testament against false religions with these words.
“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” 1 Corinthians 10:20-22So here it is – any religion that does not worship the God and Savior of the Bible is worshipping demons! What do you think? Let me hear from you…Jack.
Posts
16 comments:
Pastor,
I agree with you 100%! I'm not surprised with the numbers either. They just support what we already know about what the world believes. Thank you for your knowledge on this!
Pastor,
Thanks so much for your unwavering defense of Biblical Christianity. It is so easy for us to ascribe to God human emotions and feelings -- a good and loving God would never make someone suffer, so He must throw open the gates of heaven to everyone.
But we forget that God is perfectly holy and sinless and couldn't possibly abide sin -- the filthy rags we all wear. Our only hope is through Jesus.
More than anything, we forget that our separation from God is our doing, not His. He doesn't keep anyone from spending eternity with Him. We do that ourselves. Jesus is the light of the world, but men love the darkness.
Thank you again for preaching the unvarnished truth of the Gospels.
Mike
Jack, a lot of folks would be offended by your last comment. What they don't realize is to believe anything different is offensive to God.
I saw that article in USA Today, and I was once part of the majority that believes any "good" path will lead to Heaven. After all, that's how I would make the rules. Then God reminded me that I didn't write the rules, He did, and His rule book is extremely clear on this issue.
Truth is a wonderful thing. As always, thank's for offering it up.
- Clay
Thank you for that blog. You are so right about people wanting a salad bar to choose from. God's word is final and we cannot water down his rules. They want to take away the 10 commandments little by little and then they have to replace them with a Government law. At 79 I am seriously worried about the youth of our nation because they are being indoctrinated in the public school systems. The changes I've seen sadden me terribly. The new age hasn't brought happiness that I can see. Take a look at all the angry young people out there. God help us! Kay in NC
Pastor
Thank you for address this topic on religious identification, beliefs and practices. Yes you are right any religion that does not worship the God, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is worshipping demons. Jesus summed it all up in John 14:6
Jesus said unto him, I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Often I have this discussion with co worker, family, friends, church member etc…. that say they are believer but yet they don’t know Jesus. I thing of the inescapable question in Matthew 16: 15- 17
He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am? And Simon peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.
So often my cry as I set in church is come Lord Jesus we don’t want man’s religion we want the spirit of the living God. Pastor there is a hunger in people heart to know him for real not man’s religion. My heart cry in prayer is father pour out your spirit on your people make your church a house of prayer.
Pastor, ever time you till the story of the little bird that was trying to get in your home window. My thought goes to the Holy Spirit trying to get in the church. To work on hearts, the minds, and souls of God people.
Thanks preaching the whole Gospels.
Sharon
Jack
I joined PBC in 1998 because of the manner in which you standup for the heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God's Word, the Holy Bible.
Yes, Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY to the Father!
Thank you for your continuing stand for Christ and for your leadership,
Jay Draper
Pastor,
A member of your church led me to your Blog. I'm glad she did. What a wonderful explination of TRUTH.
God Bless you and your ministry.
Wendy
Pastor, I enjoy your, what I consider, homilies so very much. As a Catholic by birth, at one time I searched for another "religion" only to find out that it is all about accepting Christ as our Savior. Christianity, the cross, the blood of Jesus is our only way to find Him, in our hearts, in our lives, in everything we do. Testimony to how He has worked in our earthly lives, seeing all that He can do when we let go, give it all to Him, so He may control and send us on the path he so lovingly has in mind for us, this is our blessing. Faith in Him and Him alone is the greatest blessing, for it unfolds all the other blessings not just for us to know, but others to see in us, as we live In Christ alone.
God bless,
Rosie
Thank you so much for standing firm in what you believe and preach. It is like with everything else right now, we all want the easy way, a "quick fix", fast, no commitments. American values have taken a deep plunge. And, we all know that taking prayer out of schools was one big mistake. We have all become spineless, afraid to speak up and out, afraid to stand for what we believe, afraid to offend others. I think unless we make a decision to "get tough" with our beliefs and STAND for the right, we will just watch our country disintegrate. By the time our grandchildren are teens, unless something changes, I cannot imagine what this world will be like. Thank goodness for God's promises and thank goodness for Prestonwood and for you.
Pastor,
It is so nice to see a pastor with these comments. I also wrote about the same study here: http://thecenturionpapers.blogspot.com/2008/06/cultural-agenda-set-by-oprah.html
I met Shauna Lopez at an Evangelism Training conference and she told me how you preached the truth. Thank you for what you are doing.
Bro. Graham,
My friend, Diana Barnes, alerted me to your comments & your blog. With today's politically-correct climate being emphasized as the way we must live, it's unusual to hear someone speak the truth on this subject.
I pray for you every time I drive by Prestonwood.
God bless.
Joe Slaughter
joeslaughter01@gmail.com
I believe, beyond any doubt that Jesus is the one true savior. He is the way, the truth, the life, and the light. I believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I love the Lord. I am a Godly woman, and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Constance Carter
The relentless propaganda of political correctness of our media and government has led people to think they must accept other religions as valid as a way to salvation and to heaven. Unfortunately, too many churches adopted the same philosophy. Here again, the Word tells us that this happens and that we must be on guard against false teaching. I am so glad you and the staff at Prestonwood are "keeping the faith" so that many will hear the truth.
Jack, I completely agree with you, and am not surprised at all by the statistics as most of our evangelical churches are filled with false converts who believe that they can approach & be accepted by our holy God by any other name than Jesus Christ our Lord.
And why are evangelical churches responsible for birthing so many false converts? It's b/c many of our churches have forgotten to preach repentance (Luke 13:3, 1 Cor. 7:10). Instead we preach a "seeker-friendly" gospel (a false gospel) that isn't Scriptural in which we convince the sinner they are sinners in need of a Savior. Instead we preach that they should come to Christ to improve their life.
When people are preached the false gospel, then false converts will be birthed. It isn't until a person sees their sins as exceedingly sinful, just as God sees them, that they turn out of great love, humility, repentance and gratitude for the One who loved us and gave Himself up for us.
Pastor,
Thank you for your commitment to standing on Truth. Truth is not simply a concept, it is a man, Jesus Christ Himself. As He said "I am the Truth..."
Kortenay
We are indeed blessed to have a church and a pastor that preaches the truth of the Gospel instead of leaning on the crutch of "tolerance".
For those who want to see this truth in even more detail for themselves (it makes a POWERFUL witnessing tool and it will strengthen your faith even further), go to PROBE.ORG and look for the article World Religions.
There is absolute truth. Praise Christ.
Scott
Post a Comment