Nov 5
Do All Religions Pray to the Same God?
The social rules that govern secular society have been rewritten to make it a political requirement for public figures to view all religions on the same level. Anyone who says the God of the Bible is superior to some other god is branded as a bigot.
Pope Benedict XVI learned this lesson well when he quoted Emperor Manual II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, who said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The media raked Pope Benedict over the coals for making such an inflammatory remark. The press deliberately failed to mention that the Byzantine Empire was later sacked and crushed by Islamic Sultan Meh Meh, Islam was spread by the sword to Byzantium, and the great church of Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque.
It only took a few days before the Pope was singing a new tune. Since his little public relations mishap, he has met with several Islamic leaders to patch things up.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter got herself into similar hot water with Jewish groups when she said the Jewish people needed to "perfect" themselves by becoming Christians. On a Fox News program, she said Jews need to receive Jesus as their Messiah to gain this perfection.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Coulter for her “anti-Semitic comment" and reaffirmed the spirit of ecumenism by saying it is wrong to "espouse the idea that Judaism needs to be replaced with Christianity and…Christian supersessionism has been rejected by the Catholic Church and the vast majority of mainstream Christian denominations."
The Bible does indeed have a superiority complex. All Christians, knowing that Christ is the only source of perfection, should plead guilty to this offense. If Peter were making the following statement today, it would set off intolerance alarms: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The ecumenical movement has reached all the way to the White House. There once was a time when the President of the United States would never dare meet with the representative of a non-Christian faith. Today, if the Dalai Lama stops by, the White House staff rolls out the red carpet.
The past three presidents have all been chummy with the world’s key faiths. President George Bush has gone the farthest, saying, "Whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, [They all] pray to the same God."
Bush’s prayer comment has been the final straw for many evangelical conservatives. This article is the result of a flood of email I received after he made the remark I just quoted. Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said Bush's comment was "not helpful to the president. Since everybody agrees he's not a theologian, he would be much better advised to punt when he gets that kind of question."
You probably think you already know how I’m going to answer the question in the title of this article. But instead of answering that question with “no,” I thought of another way to arrive at the same point by saying, “Yes, all religions do pray to the same God.” This a true statement because there is no other God to hear our prayers, save the God of the Bible.
Someone who prays to Allah has our Lord as the only listener. Muslims
who ask Mr. Allah to kill all the Jews and Christians might want to know why their prayers are never answered.
The real problem is that the god of Islam and the God of the Bible are incompatible. The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The Koran says that on Judgment Day Jesus will refute the idea that He is the Son of God. The Bible says that every knee will some day bow to Him.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
Many people claim that all roads lead to God. That is as silly as saying that all roads lead to Omaha, Nebraska. Jesus taught that there was only one highway that leads to God. Without the road map of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to find one's way to redemption.
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matt 7:13-14).
A non-Christian may try to live a life devoted to God, but that person fails by not accepting the sacrifice of Christ. If he or she does not accept Christ's payment for his or her sins, then no amount of personal piety will be enough to atone for those sins. The Word of God says, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses are in no better shape. They claim to represent the Christian faith, but they reject Jesus as the true Son of God. Paul warned us that there would be false Christian sects.
Judaism and Christianity pray to the same God, but there is a problem with the fact that the Jews also reject Christ, or what Paul called a “stumbling block.” I have a problem with Christian leaders who promote the idea that God has a dual salvation plan for the Jews and Gentiles.
One of the most irritating things about this effort to make all religions equal is the fact that Christianity always end up with the short end of the stick. Believers in Christ are constantly asked to make room for other faiths, but I don’t recall any Islamic nations offering to do the same thing.
In Britain, a think tank for the Labor party suggested that Christmas be downgraded in favor of festivals from other religions in order to improve race relations. There is zero chance that the Muslim world will ever choose to downgrade Ramadan to oblige their minor faiths.
Since most faiths are so fundamentally opposed to each other, one might wonder why there is this effort to have a love fest between all religions. After 9/11 and a host of other terrorist attacks by Islamists, you would think that Mohammedism would be viewed as a pariah faith in western eyes. The answer to this quandary is Bible prophecy.
In the last days, the Antichrist will be the ultimate peacemaker who will unify all religions into a single organization that he will control. The only people who will not fit into the Antichrist's "harlot" church will be the true believers.
You can pray to any god you want, but there is only one emissary between man and the Holy Father. The flaw of every other religion is that not one can promise you eternal life. Jesus died for every person on this planet, and all we need to do to receive the gift of eternal life is place our trust in Him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:16-18).
-- Todd
God’s Word – The 100% Guarantee
Today’s advertising puts before the world of potential buyers certain words and phrases that the psychological studies and marketing tests show will most likely induce the buyer to make purchases. FREE! Sale! Half Price Today Only! 100% Money-Back Guarantee! These seem to mesmerize the hard-core shoppers and spark in some the compulsion to purchase merchandise at a frenzied pace. Sometimes–dare I say, even usually—the merchandisers fail to come near living up to the words of their huckstering. I should know; the arena of advertising and public relations/promotion was my livelihood many years ago.
This is not to say those engaged in the advertising business intentionally go out to deceive people, just that they believe wholeheartedly in applying the apothegm, caveat emptor: “Let the buyer beware.” They don’t spend a lot of time worrying about whether the promises are fully realized. The bottom line is the only line that really matters in the ad business.
Words mean things in this fallen world. But, the things they mean are in the fallen minds of the beholders--i.e., a man’s “word” is not necessarily as good as his bond, as the old saying goes. You had best get the deal locked up tightly with a contract or agreement. And, even that doesn’t always make the deal secure. Consider, for example, the signed document guaranteeing “peace in our time” Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain thought he secured with Adolf Hitler in 1939.
Now, after that bit of cynicism, let me turn our thoughts to an arena where a word is better than any earthly bond. I’m referring, of course, to the heavenly economy, and to God’s Word, the Holy Bible. No more manifest proof of God’s Word being 100% reliable can be found than through examining prophecy given to mankind by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets.
The first coming of Jesus was so meticulously prophesied that it took satanically inspired willfulness on the part of the pious Jewish religionists to deny at the time of their visitation that He was the Messiah. Their denial was the same people make today, and it is a denial of the veracity of God’s Word. We can say this without fear of contradiction, as they say, because Jesus IS the Word–and He is denied each and every time anyone claims that there are many ways to God. Jesus is the Word; Jesus is the only way to God the Father and heaven for eternity.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:13-17).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
We have only to look at the line-up of headlines to understand that our Lord is indeed the awesome God of creation. He is the one and only being who knows the end from the beginning. Prophecy coming to pass proves He, alone, is God. Whether considering the prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks –a predicted time-frame of 483 years that proved 100% accurate in the first 69 of those weeks, which not even the strongest naysayers can refute unless they speciously claim it was written by another man named Daniel AFTER the crucifixion--or considering Israel again being a nation, the Roman Empire reviving, a Mid-East peace plan being in process, or Israel becoming a cup of trembling to the whole world, God’s Word is validated as unerring truth.
End-times matters have eventuated precisely as given by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets to this point. Events prophesied to conclude human history will "100% Guaranteed" continue until God remakes heaven and earth. You have God’s Word –the Bible-- on it!
***If you love your Bible***
Do you feel you are losing your old friend --your long-time Bible companion-- because it's falling apart? Will you have to soon put it on the shelf and break in a new one --leaving those hundreds of notes behind on that shelf?
I want to introduce you to some Christian friends who can bring that old companion back into good "health." They will refurbish and rebind your Bible at the best price you
will find. I highly recommend them.
mcspaddenbookbindery.com
