"Atheism, World Religions, and Christianity"

Since I spent a lot of time editing my "Atheism and World Religions" Bible Study post (to send it to a relative in jail who shares what I send with others on the same floor), I figured I'd post it here too, to make the time I spent on it more worth it.  (There are "questions for discussion" at the end of the original post, click here to find them.).  Okay, so here we go:

Christianity isn’t always a shiny, happy, “everything goes smoothly and life’s always great” kind of faith.  It can be messy, painful, and difficult.  Many of us believers may someday find ourselves in a deep pit of despair, struggling with heartache, doubt, fear, desperately seeking assurance and reasons to keep clinging to Jesus, for evidence that our faith is resting on something solid, that we weren’t fooling ourselves all this time but that the Bible is really true, that God is really real, that He cares about us and can be trusted, that He is watching over us, that someday we’ll be with Him in heaven and everything will be okay.  If so, this study may be for you.  Or maybe you’re doing fine but would love to have some solid support for your faith, to have some great reasons for why you believe what you do.  Or maybe you don’t believe in God or the Bible but want to, and you just need some extra proof to give you the push you need.  In that case, this study might be for you too.  This will be long (and more personal than “academic”) because I will be looking at several different things which all relate to what we choose to believe and why: atheism, world religions, heretical teachings, evidence to support the Bible and Jesus, and how I would describe salvation and faith in Jesus.

Why I Could Never be an Atheist

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”  (Psalm 14:1)

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  (Romans 1:20)

I have gone through some hard times in my life.  (Most of us have.  And if you haven’t yet, give it time.)  Not only has there been a lot of discouraging trials, but these trials have been accompanied by “spiritual droughts” of sorts.  Long, dry, “spiritual desert” times, the kind that make you wonder if you only convinced yourself all along that there is a God.  He has been so silent, so distant ... and at a time when I needed Him the most.  My soul has ached for more than what He is giving right now.  I cry out but hear nothing.  I pray and pray but nothing happens.  I knock and knock but no one answers.  And then the door seems to start opening and I get hopeful … but then it slams in my face.  (How many times can your hopeful heart crash and burn before hope starts to feel like a cruel joke?)  My prayers pour from my broken heart but then simply bounce off the ceiling, dashing into pieces, evaporating into nothingness, as the echo reverberates around the cold, empty room.  It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even really want the particular answers that I hoped for anymore, as much as I just want some tiny evidence that God is still there, that He’s listening, that He cares.  Just answer something - anything! - to show me that You’re still there, that You care, that I matter, that I’m not alone! 

(And maybe that’s the point.  The point we’re supposed to get to - when we stop wanting things and just want Him.) 

And yet, the silence has been loud and long.  The problems keep piling up.  And I don’t even know how to pray anymore sometimes.  I feel like all my energy and emotions are just being wasted, like if I pray for something, it gets attacked … if I care about anything, it gets ruined ... if I enjoy something, it gets torn from me ... if I hope, it gets dashed.  And I’m teetering on the edge of losing my ... well ... I don’t know what.  My joy?  My zest for life?  My ability to care about anything?  My faith?  I find myself wanting to hunker down and not rock the boat, to not want anything or enjoy anything or hope for anything anymore, to pull back from life, from God, to retreat into a safe, little, protective shell, to defiantly stick out my chin and tell Him, “Fine, God, I can handle it.  I don’t want anyone, even You, to care about me.  I can accept it.  I’m used to it.  I’m strong enough.”

But the thing is ... I’m not. 

I’m not strong enough.  I’m cracking under the pressure.  And I don’t know what to do anymore except wait on God for ... well ... for I-don’t-know-what.  I don’t know what I am waiting for.  I don’t know what to expect, what to hope for, what to pray for.  I’m more broken now than I’ve ever been.  And I don’t know how to fix it.

I am sharing all of this not to complain, but to say that I can totally understand how people who are going through hard times, who feel a huge void where God should be, might think, “There is no God.”  They have my sincerest sympathy.  It is really hard to cling to faith when God seems so very far away and prayers don’t “work.”  When you feel like life has been too much to handle and like you’re cracking under the pressure and like God just doesn’t care.  And it makes you want to go, “Fine!  Then I don’t care either.”

I was thinking of all this the other day.  And I asked myself, “Why could I never be an atheist?  What is helping me keep my faith in this long, dry, spiritual desert?  In these spirit-crushing trials?”

For one thing, I need God.  No matter how quiet He is and how things don’t go my way, there is a deep ache in my soul that cries out for Him.  And I think we all have that ache.  Just look at what happens during any tragedy in the world (or in our own life).  We automatically cry out to Him.  We ask Him, “Why!?!”  We join together in prayer.  We wonder where He was and why He let it happen.  Even city officials get on camera and ask us to pray, and no one scolds them.  We might raise our fists at Him or we might fall down on our knees before Him, but the point is that we turn to Him.  Every tragedy turns our thoughts to God.  Deep down in all of us is a built-in need for Him, for Someone bigger than us who is watching out for us and who holds all things in His hands.  And while many people explain it away or ignore it or soothe the ache with other things, we all know it’s there.  And tragedies bring our ache for God to the surface.

Despite the fact that He is so quiet sometimes and that I wish I could give up on prayer sometimes, maybe even on Him, my soul still cries out for Him.  It’s always reaching for Him.  Because deep down, I know He’s real.  And I need Him.  I know that we are not alone, that we are not accidents, and that He is always close to us, always listening, and that He does care and does answer prayer, even if life is hard and the trials are many and we get more “no” answers than we like.  And I am much more willing to believe that there is a God and that He is choosing to not do things my way, not answer as I want Him to, than to believe that there is no God just because things aren’t going my way.

I mean, look at this world.  The order.  The delicate balance.  The miracle of life, of the human body, the eyeball, the brain, a tree, a baby.  It is much more reasonable to believe in God than to not.  Atheists have much more to explain when it comes to this world, this life, than I do.  It takes much more “faith” to believe that all of this is accidental than to believe in a Creator.  It is foolishness to decide that there must not be a God just because He isn’t giving me what I want or because life isn’t going my way.  There is far too much evidence for a Creator for me to base my belief in Him simply on what He does or doesn’t do in my own little life.  So while I might wonder about how God acts or why He answers prayers the way He does, I do not doubt His existence. 

And one major reason I don’t doubt is because of something I went through years ago that was scary at the time but has become such a source of encouragement: five months of spiritual, demonic harassment.  It began when I innocently watched a program on TV about something called “The Devil’s Bible.”  (This was also during a time when I began to take my faith more seriously, joining a new Bible study.  Demons don’t like it when you start taking your faith seriously.  And remember that demons don’t play fair.  They will enter any open door you give them, come in on any “welcome mat,” such as Ouija boards, psychics, horoscopes, horror movies, outbursts of rage, lust, jealousy, pride, dabbling with temptation, yoga (worship of Hindu gods), etc.  They’ve got many ways in.) 

During these five months, I would wake up several times a week in terror, feeling paralyzed or electrocuted or like a heavy weight was on my chest pinning me to the bed, or feeling like my face was being sucked up in a giant vacuum, like my mouth was being held shut, like someone was choking me, etc.  The most vivid was when I was laying in bed one morning, wide awake, and I began to feel something walking up the bed towards me, over and over again, but every time I looked, nothing was there.  These experiences are as fresh to me today as it was then, although it is not scary anymore.  In fact, I think of it basically every day.  It has radically changed my life and my faith.  Although it was terrifying at the time, I thank God tremendously for those experiences.  Because they, if nothing else, are enough to convince me that there is indeed a supernatural world out there.  (Important note: I do not drink alcohol or use drugs or smoke marijuana or anything like that.  So I wasn’t drunk or high during any of this.  Or at any time in my life, for that matter.)  

I do not doubt at all the existence of angels and demons, heaven and hell, God and Satan.  So when these long, dry, “spiritual deserts” come, I can still rest assured that I never “made up” God in my head, just to satisfy some need to have a God.  He is real.  And I know it.  And I will cling to Him because I have had a small taste of what evil is like, and I didn’t like it at all.  I choose God!  Joshua 24:15: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 

[People, even many Christians, could fall into one of two traps: thinking/living like demons don’t exist … or being overly interested in them with an unhealthy fascination.  And demons are fine with either extreme.  What might be the possible consequences for both of these?  What would a healthy, biblical balance be like?  Here are some random verses on what the Bible says about demons.  What can you learn from them? 

“When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town.  For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived among the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg you, don’t torture me!’  For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man.  Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.  Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’  ‘Legion,’ he replied, because many demons had gone into him.”  (Luke 8:27-30)

“When an evil spirit comes out of man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’  When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.  And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” (Matthew 12:43-45.  “Unoccupied” refers to unbelievers, those who are not filled with the Holy Spirit.  However, even believers are susceptible to demonic-oppression, especially if they are living in sin, unrepentant, and refusing God’s correction.  At some point, God may hand them over to Satan as discipline, so that eventually - when they see where their rebellion and sin got them - they may turn back to God.  1 Corinthians 5:5: “hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”)

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith …”  (1 Peter 5:7-9)

"The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)]

Those experiences also taught me the importance of running to Jesus as our refuge, of clinging to Him in moments of attack, of saying (if you are a genuine Christian) “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you demons to leave me right now.  I am a child of God, covered by and protected by the blood of Jesus Christ.”  Luke 10:17: “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’”  And Proverbs 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."  There is power in the name of Jesus.  And in the spiritual armor God gave us for use during spiritual warfare:

Ephesians 6:10-17: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the [spoken] word of God.”

[Belt of truth: Truth, at its core, is God’s view of a matter, as found in the Bible, and it’s powerful enough to stabilize our lives.  But Satan is the ultimate truth-twister, using deception, lies, and half-truths to create chaos and disorder.  If we do not align ourselves with God’s truth, if we embrace Satan’s lies, we will be out of alignment with God, opening ourselves up to the Enemy.  To be set free by God’s truth, we need to know it, embrace it, and live it.  John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Breastplate of righteousness: Sin hinders our relationship with God and destroys our peace, and it gets worse the longer sin remains unconfessed.  Unconfessed sin attracts demons like garbage attracts cockroaches.  We can’t get rid of the cockroaches until we get rid of the garbage.  And so we need to search our hearts in prayer to see if there is any offensive way in us and confess it to God, seeking and walking in righteousness, and this will protect our hearts and restore our peace and our fellowship with God.

Shoes of peace: When we’re right with God, we can have God’s peace even during hard times, which helps us stand firm, like how cleats help athletes stand firm when opponents crash into them.  This peace isn’t about feeling happy when things are good, but about having inner stability even when things are bad.  And no matter what happens in life, the gospel is our ultimate peace – that Jesus died for us, that we’ll be with Him in heaven, and that someday He will fix all wrongs, work bad into good, and destroy evil forever.

Shield of faith: The shield is our faith: our faith that God is ultimately in control, that He is good and trustworthy, that He loves us and is watching over us, and that in the end, He wins.  And we don’t have to go looking for more faith; we just have to get closer to God through His Word, prayer, and obedience … and then our faith will grow.  Also, faith isn’t just a feeling; it needs to show up in our actions and choices.  We “walk” by faith.

Helmet of salvation:  We protect our minds as we apply our salvation to our lives by learning God’s Word and Truth, living obediently, and walking in righteousness.

Sword of the Spirit: The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.  It is a weapon to use against Satan in times of trial, temptation, and attack, and in times when you need to strike the first blow, to fight offensively, before the problems start.  According to the Greek for "Word," it is the "spoken Word."  (I did not know this till just a few years ago, until watching a Tony Evans sermon on the sword of the Spirit.  What a help it might have been to know this earlier in life!)  It is speaking God’s Word out loud, the way Jesus did in the desert when Satan was tempting Him.  You can speak verses out loud as they are written or turn them into prayers to fit your own circumstances.]

James 4:7-8: "Submit yourself, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you." 

Remember that Satan is not the equal opposite of God.  He is a created being, subservient to God.  And he is a defeated foe, because God’s victory over Satan has already been determined.  “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur … they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”  (Rev. 20:10). 

As Christians, you battle evil from a place of victory, with the power of the Holy Spirit inside you.  Don’t let Satan convince you that he is winning or is stronger than God.  Don’t let him discourage you, tear you down, or get you to wallow in fear or shame (when Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future)!

1 John 4:4: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 

2 Thessalonians 3:3: “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”

Anyway, that is a very personal reason for me that others might not relate to, for why I could never be an atheist, for why I keep clinging to God even during the hard times.  But there are other reasons why I could never give up my faith in Christ - and one is the fact that I once decided that I needed to study all the other major religions (which I will briefly explore later in this study), to see if they had any real answers or hope or truth.  What if I was wrong all along and one of them was right?  I had to find out.

And I will admit that I was a little afraid to start the research, but I knew that I had to do this.  And that I had to do it with an open mind that really wanted to know the truth.  And so I did.  And I was relieved and delighted to come through it only more convinced that the Bible was the Truth, that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior.  None of the other religions offer the kind of hope and reasonable answers that I found in the Bible, in Jesus.  And I was able to close the book on that research, on wondering if some other religion had it right instead of Christianity.  For me, there is no other choice.  If Jesus isn’t the answer and isn’t the way, then there is no other option in any other religion.  It’s either Jesus or nothing!  And so in that way, I guess maybe atheism would be the only other option for me.  Yet, as I said, atheism isn’t the answer for me, either.  So it’s really only Jesus!

Another reason why atheism isn’t the answer for me is because of what they stand for: nothing!  Atheists spend their days, their lives, fighting for a future full of nothingness, for the idea that people don’t really matter eternally, that we have no real lasting value, no real purpose, and no real hope of things ever being better.  What a hopeless and discouraging view!  And the funny things is, the out-spoken atheists spend their days actively fighting against the idea of God, who they believe doesn’t even exist.  So basically, from their perspective and considering that they don’t believe in an afterlife, they spend the only life they have fighting against nothing and for nothing.  So nonsensical!  So sad!

Why would anyone waste so much time and energy trying to convince people that we don’t really ultimately matter?  That no one is looking out for us?  That we are accidents with no real value or purpose?  That whatever happens here on earth doesn’t really matter in the long run?  Why would they want to believe that themselves?

I think that, in general, atheists use a lot of words and fancy arguments to try to cover up the fact that - deep down - they know there is a God.  (Or at least they don’t want to seriously consider it because that would mean major changes in their lives.)  They don’t want to bend a knee to God.  They don’t want to be accountable to God.  They want to be their own gods.  But with that comes a life and eternity away from the real God, away from the Creator who loves us and sustains us, who gives our lives meaning and purpose, and who will right all wrongs in the end and dish out ultimate justice.  

Romans 1:18-21,28: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened... Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind ..."”

Zechariah 7:11-13: “But they refused to pay attention: stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.  They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.  So the Lord Almighty was very angry.  ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

John 5:40, Jesus rebukes the Jews: "yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Romans 2:5: "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath against yourself..."

Atheism is rebellion against God.  It is hopelessness.  It makes life meaningless.  It makes what you do pointless.  It makes what happens to you inconsequential.  Could you imagine telling a child who is dying early of a disease, “Sorry, that’s a tough break.  But that’s just nature’s way.  You’re nothing more than a bag of accidentally-alive cells anyway.  But don’t worry, you won’t remember any of this later because you’re going to simply vanish, and it won’t really matter that you suffered because we all just disappear in the end anyway.  It’s just a bummer that this had to be your one and only life.”

Or how about telling a person who was horribly abused by someone who never got punished for it, “Well, I’m sorry that it happened but it doesn’t really matter.  Nothing really matters in the end for any of us.  It doesn’t ultimately matter if you were the abused or if you were the abuser.  We all go to the same place and have the same ending: nothingness.  And so I am sorry that there is no real justice for you in the end, no consequences for the person who abused you.  I wish I could say that things will be better for you one day, that justice will be served, but I can’t.  So sorry!”

Do we say that kind of stuff when bad things happen?  (Of course, not even an atheist would say this because it is so heartless and insensitive.  But it is essentially the gist of their beliefs, if they are honest with themselves.) 

No, we don’t say this.  We say, “It’s not fair.”  It’s not fair that a child dies of cancer.  It’s not fair that natural disasters and violent wars ruins lives.  It’s not fair that diseases ravage people’s bodies.  It’s not fair when someone is abused.  It’s not fair when people take advantage of others. 

And why do we say, “It’s not fair”?

Because we know – deep down – that we were made for something more, something better, that life is supposed to be a certain way, that there’s a right way and a wrong way.  You can’t say “It’s not fair” unless you have something to compare “fair” against, unless there is some ultimate standard by which to measure the quality of life. 

In a world without God or eternity, it would not ultimately matter what happens.  If life was accidental, random, and governed by lifeless, unthinking forces, we couldn’t complain when it isn’t the way it’s supposed to be ... because there would be no “supposed to be” about it.  And death and disease and cruelty would be as “fair” as life and health and goodness.  (And they might even be considered beneficial, if they served a “greater purpose” for mankind as a whole.)  And eventually, we would all end up in the same place anyway.  It wouldn’t ultimately matter if we lived long, healthy, loving, gentle lives ... or if we suffered tremendously ... or if we were cruel and made others suffer ... or if we died early from violence or disease.  “Fair” and “supposed to be” wouldn’t really matter because there would be nothing real and solid to measure the quality of life against (except flimsy, shifting societal standards and values).

But deep down, we know.  We all know that we were made for more and better.  We know that when a person is mistreated, it’s wrong and unfair, that they should’ve had a better life than that, should’ve been treated better than that.  We know that people who mistreat others are in the wrong, that there’s a standard that we all should be - will be - held to.  Not just a human standard of what’s socially-acceptable, but a real, deep, abiding, binding standard of right and wrong ways to live and treat people.  And so, we want to see justice done, and we’re outraged when it’s not done. 

We know that when a child dies, their life ended too early, that it wasn’t fair because they had a lot more living to do.  We know that they mattered tremendously and that their value goes much deeper than what they could contribute to society.  They matter because they are human.  And there’s something about being human that gives us incredible value, no matter our skin color, health, physical ability, circumstances of life, etc.  And deep down, we all know that our value isn’t determined by society (oh, the horrors that can happen when society determines our worth!) but by something that transcends our frail, tiny, human standards and values.

And Christians know that it’s because God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27), that He loved us enough to send Jesus to die for our sins so that we could live (Romans 5:8, John 3:16), and that our souls will live after the body dies (1 Thess. 4:17).  We matter because God made us and loves us.  And our lives on earth matter because death isn’t the end of us.  Our lives will greatly affect our eternities.

Atheism is a great excuse for living any way you want, with little regard for how it affects other people.  Because in the end – if we all simply disappear – it won’t matter how any of us lived, will it?  It wouldn’t ultimately matter if you were Hitler or Mother Teresa.  If there is not an ultimate, supreme, objective standard for right and wrong then there is no real right or wrong.  If there is no Creator, no Supreme Judge, then it doesn’t ultimately matter how we live because, in the end, none of us has any lasting value, and we are accountable to no one, and there are no consequences.

And then how do we determine “right and wrong”?  If it hurts someone else or not?  But why should hurting people be wrong, especially if it benefits someone else or the human race in general?  Why should stealing something be wrong, especially if the person who stole it values it more (and uses it better) than the person who had it?  Are these things wrong merely because we, at this time, in our society, say they’re wrong?  If we were in a primitive, lawless society, would violence and robbery all of a sudden be okay, just because we allow it, because that’s the way things are?  And how do we determine the value of people if there are no objective standards?  Is the value of a baby’s life based on if the mother wants it or not?  Or if it has a genetic defect or not?  Does the value of a human change if they end up severely crippled in an accident?  Do elderly dementia patients or mentally-handicapped people have less value because they can’t contribute much to society?  What about those in prison?  Does being locked away in a prison or guilty of a crime mean they lost their value as a person?  Was feeding the Christians to lions “morally acceptable” because the Romans believed it was?  What about primitive societies that buried living babies with their dead parents so that the dead parent could take the baby with them to the afterlife?  Is that okay, just because they think it’s the way things should be done?  Who matters and who doesn’t, who should live and who should die, and how do we determine that?  And who should be allowed to set those standards?  (What verses can you find about the sanctity and value of human life?  About who’s in control?  About God’s standards of right and wrong, and what happens when we violate them?)

I think that if most people were honest with themselves, if they listened to the deep-down parts of themselves, getting past all their fancy atheistic arguments, they would hear a Voice that says this:

“You matter, eternally.  It matters to Me what happens in your life.  And you were made for more than the tragedies of this life, more than the abuses, trials, heartaches, and injustices, more than a meaningless existence.  You are more than a pile of accidentally-alive dust.  And you are not alone on this planet.  I made you.  I gave you life.  I am watching over you.  I am calling to you.  I want you to love Me and to let Me love you, to let Me save you and help you and heal you and to give your life value, purpose, and meaning, a blessed future.  And though life is hard and oftentimes unfair, I will right all wrongs in the end and work all things for good and bring you eternal healing.  What happens to you matters.  How you live matters.  You matter to Me.  Believe in Me.  Believe!”

God loved us enough to leave heaven to come down here to our broken, sinful, dirty world, to join us in our pain, putting on a fragile, vulnerable, human body so that He could die in our place to pay the penalty our sins deserved, to save our souls and give us hope and a future.  What other “god” was willing to do that for his creation?

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

          Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Proverbs 28:25: “… he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.”

The Big Questions:  

            Think for a moment about the big questions of life: Why are we here?  Where are we headed?  Do we really matter?  

            

           What answers can atheism give?

“Why are we here?”  We are accidents.  All the amazing order, complexity, intricate details, and delicate balance of life developed randomly over billions of years.  If any one thing had been different, none of this would be here.  Life is just a lucky mistake.

“Where are we headed?”  If we’re accidents, we have no souls and never should’ve been here to begin with.  No part of us will live after we die.  We end in nothing.

“Do we really matter?”  If we’re accidents with no souls, there is no ultimate, lasting value to us, no real purpose or meaning.  We matter only to those who know us for the brief time we’re here, and it doesn’t really matter how we live or what happens in our lives because we all end in nothing.  So live how you want, nothing really matters.

Now compare that to the answers we find in the Bible, in Jesus:

“Why are we here?”  God is a relational Being who created us for His pleasure and glory, and because He wants a family of people with Him in heaven, people to love, who will love Him back.  Rev. 4:11 (KJV): “… thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”  Isaiah 43:7: “… whom I created for my glory...”  1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.”  Acts 17:27: “For God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him..."    

“Where are we headed?”  God created us with souls to live eternally.  He wants us all with Him in heaven (it’s why Jesus died for our sins), but He leaves it up to us to decide if we want to spend eternity with Him (heaven) or without Him (hell).  We do not simply cease to exist; we have a soul that will live on, which is comforting or terrifying, depending on where you’re headed.  "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)

“Do we really matter?”  Yes!  God created us and loves us because He wanted to.  His love gives us value, meaning, and purpose.  We can’t do anything to deserve or earn His love, and we can’t do anything to make Him love us less.  He loves us just because we are His.   In fact, He loved us so much “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8), while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:10), that He sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we could spend eternity with Him.  John 10:10: "… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  To Him, we – every human - are worth the price of Jesus’s life.  That is some major value, real meaning, purpose, and hope!  We matter eternally just because He loves us, because He made us, because He wants us.  (But love isn’t love if it’s forced, and so He leaves the choice up to us to accept or reject His love, His offer of eternal life.)

There is no hope in atheism.  No meaning, value, justice, purpose, answers, or anything.  If it all ends in nothing, then nothing matters.  It doesn’t matter if life was good or bad, happy or sad.  I believe what draws a lot of people to atheism is the love of pleasure, being able to do what they want without consequence or shame.  (But what if they’re wrong?  What will it cost them if there really is a God?  The risk/loss for if an atheist is wrong is far greater than if a Christian is wrong.)  But rather than having that kind of so-called “freedom,” I’d rather have the hope that things will someday be better, that people really do matter, that all wrongs will be made right again someday, that God is watching over us and is with us.  To me, believing in God is hope-filled, comforting, and freeing, not restricting.  Atheists might think they have more fun than Christians (but it comes with a high cost), but Christians have eternal hope, real answers, meaning and purpose, and the promise that the best is yet to come.  And that makes it all worth it.  

Joshua 24:15: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  

John 6:68-69: "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

As I have grown older and (I hope) wiser, I have learned a big lesson:

I have no problem admitting that I need God, if it means that I don’t have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Nothing is more exhausting than that.  I would much rather fall down in His arms in desperate need and let Him carry me than have to do it all on my own.  

I recently saw a post that someone wrote, meant to encourage people who are struggling, saying something like this: “You can do it!  You are enough!”  And while I appreciate the positive encouragement, it helps me more to say this: “No, I am not enough.  I cannot do it on my own.  And I don’t want the burden of having it all rest on my shoulders.  Lord, please help me!  I need You!  I need You to help carry my burdens, my concerns, my problems, my fears.  I need You to handle what I can’t handle, to pick up the pieces I drop, to put the broken pieces of my life back together, to turn my messes into successes, to give me strength when I’m weak, to pick me up when I fall, to hold me when I hurt and can’t do it anymore.  I’m not enough.  I need You!  I don’t want to have to try so hard to do it all myself.  I just want to be still and know that You are God.”

I don’t have to fix it all or always know what to do or make everything all better.  I get to run to God and seek His help.  I get to rest in Him.  I get to let His strength, peace, and joy fill me when I have none of my own.  How encouraging and reassuring!  When I can’t trust myself, I can trust Him.  And I wouldn’t trade that security for anything.  He gives our lives meaning and purpose.  He gives us hope and a future.  He offers healing for our brokenness and makes something beautiful and worthwhile out of the messes.  In fact, He does His best work with broken, flawed people (just read the Bible and see).  That is, if we will let Him.  If we are not too self-sufficient or too proud to admit that we need Him.  We are never stronger than when He is holding us!

Can science – can impersonal, environmental forces - offer that kind of hope?  No!  While science might let us “play god” in our lives for a short while - giving us temporary pleasure, wishy-washy purpose, flimsy meaning - science without God is a let-down.  It fails at giving us answers for the truly meaningful questions: Why are we here?  Where are we going?  Is there any real hope or future for me?  Do I really matter?  Science cannot bring us true hope and healing and meaning and a future.  But Jesus does!

A Little Girl’s Sign

I saw a picture online of a little girl holding up a sign.  She had a great big smile on her face, yet she was clearly too young to understand what the sign meant.  But the sign said (paraphrased): “Religion says that people are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  But science (a world without God) says that people are intelligent, beautiful, and capable of great things.  Which one do you think is more harmful?”  (Obviously implying that religion is negative and damaging, while science is positive and affirming.)  That sign bothered me, because it doesn’t give an accurate picture of Christianity.  And so, in response, I want to make my own list, which I think more accurately represents Christianity and science. 

[Of course, there are some damaging religions out there, and there have been bad representatives of Christianity throughout history.  And those bad “Christians” will be held accountable in the end.  But the people who reject God, Jesus, because of someone else’s bad example will be held accountable for their choice.  They won’t be excused when they say, “But I didn’t like the Christians I knew, so I didn’t want to believe in Jesus.”  And to be clear, I do value science.  God created the scientific ways the world/universe work.  Science points back to the Creator.  (Scientists who deny a Creator generally have a predetermined bias against Him and won’t let anything convince them that He’s real.  Instead of allowing all possibilities and then letting the research lead them to the conclusions, they start with the conclusion that there is no God and then they do their research accordingly, to answer the question of “Since there is no God, how else can I understand and explain the world?”  Not very scientific!)  But for this section, I am talking about a science that excludes God, that takes the place of God, because that is how this little girl’s sign meant it.]

My List:

Science (a world without God) says that we ...

- are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  Despite the little girl’s sign, science cannot deny that we are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  Just look at history and today’s newspaper.  Look at what we are capable to doing to each other and to ourselves.  Consider those who “have it all” but who are miserable anyway or who kill themselves to escape the hopelessness of this life.  Can science dare claim that we are “whole, perfect, and sinless”?  No!  (If it could then we could do away with laws, the judicial system, the medical industry, investigative journalism, scientific research, welfare, government, etc.  There’d be no need for so many things if we were all perfect.)  Science still has to admit that we are broken, imperfect, and sinful, but it can’t give us any real answers or hope for our broken condition.  It leaves it up to us to dig ourselves out of our messes because it says that there is no God to help us.

- are cosmic accidents, created by and at the mercy of environmental conditions.

- should be weeded out if we have flaws.  Survival of the fittest!  That’s how nature works.  The only thing that really matters is what’s best for the continuation of the species as a whole.  The weak, injured, and poorly-developed are weeded out so that the stronger ones may live and pass on their genes.

- are valuable based on our accomplishments and contributions to the species.  If there is no God to give us value and meaning, then our value and meaning is determined by other people and by what we contribute to society.  Other people get to decide if we really matter or not.  And “drains on society” are liabilities and should be weeded out.

- are ultimately alone.  If there is no Creator – just environmental forces – then we are truly on our own and have no one but ourselves to lean on.

- are headed to nothingness.  If we were not deliberately created, if we are nothing more than bags of dust, accidentally-alive, then we have no soul, no true purpose, no meaning, no hope for the future.  And we will simply vanish after we die.

But Christianity – God, Jesus – says that we ...

          - are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  But that’s okay.  God knows we are this way, and yet He loves us anyway and wants a relationship with us.  And since He knew we couldn’t do it ourselves, He made a way to heal us, to make us whole, to pay for our sins, to give us a future, eternal life.  He is our hope and strength and help.

Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"

Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  

1 John 4:9-10: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 40:1-2: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

- are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Genesis 1:27, 31: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them.... and it was very good.”

Psalm 139:13-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made...”

Colossians 1:16: “For by him all things were created…”

- are extremely valuable simply because He created us, wants us, and loves us.  No one is worthless or disposable, no matter how broken or flawed we are.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world …”

2 Peter 3:9: “[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Romans 3:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

- are worth dying for, even in our broken, imperfect condition, not because we deserve it but just because God wants us.

Mark 2:17: “Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1 Peter 3:18: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous [Jesus] for the unrighteous [mankind]..."

Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”  

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”

 

- are not alone because He is watching over us and will help us through this life.

1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.”

Psalm 23:1-4: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…”

Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified ... for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 

- have a future.  We will live on after we die, which can be comforting or terrifying, depending on where you are headed.

John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Matthew 25:31-34: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another … Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’... Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”  (Hell was never made for us, but for the devil and his angels.  We, however, choose to follow the devil to hell if we reject Jesus as Lord and Savior.)

Colossians 1:13: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness…”

John 3:16: “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.”

 

Which one is more hope-full?  Which has real answers, real hope, and a real future?

We all put our faith in something.  Which one are you putting your faith in: Science or God?  We all stake our futures on something.  Which one are you staking your future, your soul, your eternity on: Nothingness or Jesus?  (And what happens if you’re wrong?)

World Religions

I will look specifically at Christianity later, but for now I want to briefly present what some of the major religions of the world believe.  I’m not covering all of them, just an overview of the main ones.  It’s important to know what these religions teach so that we can decide if they hold any real answers, truth, or hope (compared to Christianity), and so that we as believers can have biblical responses to them.  (This is my paraphrase of things I’ve learned over time and information from a religion comparison guide called “Christianity: Cults & Religions” and from a book by Fritz Ridenour called, So What’s the Difference?)

Judaism:

The founders of Judaism are Abraham and Moses, of the Bible.  Jews do not consider the whole Bible to be scriptural, but only the Old Testament (called the Hebrew Bible), especially the first five books (the Torah).  There are four kinds of Jews: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Messianic. 

Orthodox Jews are strict “rule-followers.”  Besides the Old Testament, they also live by additional rules in the Mishnah and the Talmud.  To make sure that they follow the rules completely, they take things to an extreme.  Such as Exodus 23:19 says to not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk, but they take it even further, always eating meat and dairy separately, never in the same dish.  Conservative Jews are a little more relaxed in their rule-following, more concerned about trying to keep Jewish traditions alive.  Reformed Jews are not concerned with strict rule-following either.  They believe that following the principles of Judaism are more important than following all the fastidious rules.

Christianity and Judaism are similar in many of their values and beliefs.  However, the enormous, critical difference is how we view Jesus.  The only Jews who follow Jesus are Messianic Jews, who still observe Jewish customs yet believe Jesus is the Messiah. The rest generally believe He was a false messiah or a good teacher who had an unfortunate death.  (Would a “good teacher” deceive everyone by claiming He was God and the only way to heaven?)  Since they don’t believe Jesus is God (as Christians do), most Jews don’t believe in the Trinity, that God is three persons in one (see note below), but they believe He is one Being. 

Conservative and Reformed Jews believe God is an impersonal and unknowable spirit, whereas Orthodox Jews believe He is personal and knowable.  Some Jews think the Holy Spirit is just another name for God’s love/power and some think it refers to His activity on earth.  Most Jews believe salvation is obtained by commitment to God and moral living.  Christians and Messianic Jews believe salvation is only through Jesus’s atoning death. 

(A huge difference between Christianity and all other religions is that all other religions are about man working his way to God, to heaven, but Christianity is about God reaching down to man, paying our way to heaven for us because we could never be perfect enough to earn heaven on our own.  In all other religions, man struggles to make his way to heaven.  But in Christianity, God made the way for us, and all we have to do is accept it.) 

NOTE: Christians believe the Bible teaches “the Trinity,” that God is three persons in one God: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.  Each has a distinct personality and role, but they all together make up one God, being one unit with the same nature and essence.  It’s hard for us to fully understand this because there’s nothing else like it on earth, but various analogies have been given to help us grasp the idea of the Trinity (all analogies fall short at some point, so don’t read into them too much), such as:

H20, which comes in three distinctly different forms: liquid water, gassy steam, solid ice.  Each has its own role and purpose, but they’re all made up of the same thing: H2O. 

An egg, which has three basic parts (shell, yolk, and albumen, the clear goopy part).  Each part has its different role, but each is genetically “egg.”  And all three parts together make up one egg, not three.  If any part was missing, it would not be a full egg. 

A Totem Pole with three faces.  Each face is distinct from the others, but all three are made of the same materiel, and all three together make up one Totem Pole. 

Or even a family of three people, where each has their own personality and role, but each is made up of the same “human” material (ignore the fact that they don’t have the exact same DNA), and all together they make up one unit, one family. 

(Can you think of other analogies?)

Here are some verses on the Trinity:

Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness …”  (Notice that God said “us,” talking to the three persons of the Trinity.  But He also says “image/likeness” in the singular, not the plural.  The three persons have one image, one likeness, because they are one God.  If they were three different Gods, it would be “images/likenesses,” in the plural.)

Likewise, Matthew 28:19 indicates that the three together make up one name, singular (which would be “God), not three different ones: “… baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.” [Jesus says He and God the Father are one and the same, which is why the Jews wanted to kill Him, thinking He was blasphemous.  And Acts 5:3-4 says that when Ananias lied, he lied to the Holy Spirit, and that it was really lying to God.  In the Word, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are identified as God (not a god or gods, but God), along with God the Father.]

Luke 1:35: “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”  [In this verse, an angel tells Mary, a young virgin, how she will become pregnant with Jesus, the Messiah.  Each member of the Trinity is here, working together in this: the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary, God the Father will overshadow her, and she will become pregnant with God the Son, Jesus, to bring Him into the world as a human so that He could fulfill His role in the redemption plan, dying for our sins to save us.  If Jesus is not God, then He died as a sinful man, nothing more, and His death means nothing and cannot save anyone.  But it is because He is God (perfect, righteous) that His death could pay the price for sin that sinful man could never pay.  It is because He is God that He alone could bridge the gap between God and us which was created when mankind rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden.  Man, in his fallen, sinful condition, could never be perfect enough to reach God, to “earn” heaven.  But God could reach down to us, paying our way to heaven Himself, which is what He did when Jesus came to earth to die for our sins.]

1 John 5:7 (KJV): “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”  [One of the clearest verses on the Trinity. However, most translations, but the KJV, just say “There are three that testify,” making the rest of the verse just a footnote.  But from my research (a whole other topic I won’t get into here), the KJV is the most reliable version, so this verse should be included.]

And here are verses about each member of the Trinity being “creator,” being there in the beginning: Genesis 1:1-2 (God the Father and the Holy Spirit): “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…. and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” and John 1:1-3 (Jesus): “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God [the Father] in the beginning.  Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made.” 

Christians do not worship three different Gods, but one God of three persons, each having their own role.  Very briefly, God the Father is chief Creator who is over and above all, overseeing all things and working all things into His plans.  God the Son (Jesus) came to earth in a human body to die for us and to represent God the Father to us, pointing the way to Him.  And God the Holy Spirit works in the Spirit realm, making sure everyone senses that God is real and that they need Him, and He lives inside each Christian, marking us as believers, sealing us for the day of redemption, and helping guide us and grow us in Him. 

Another way to say it: God the Father made the redemptive plan, Jesus carried out the plan, and the Holy Spirit applies the plan to people, helping us understand and embrace it.  (What other verses can you find about the roles of each member of the Trinity?)

Catholicism:

While both Catholics and Christians believe in the Bible and God and Jesus, there are a few BIG differences between the two.  Catholics believe that new revelations are given to the bishops.  Therefore, scriptural authority is not just “the Bible” (as Christians believe), but “the Bible plus the bishop’s new revelations.”  And the leaders – Rome – are the only ones with the ability to understand and correctly interpret what the Bible teaches.  (But Christians believe that God’s truth is made available to everyone in the Bible and can be understood by everyone.  And did you know that, until the 1960's, the Catholic Church had an official list of books that Catholics were not allowed to read?)  The pope claims papal infallibility, meaning that he has complete authority over the church and cannot be wrong in what he decides.  (Christians would say that all men are fallen, and so you should never consider any man as perfect.)

Catholics hold Mary in higher regard than Christians do, basically to the point of worshipping her.  They believe she was born sinless, died sinless, and remained a virgin her whole life (despite verses to the contrary), that she was taken up bodily into heaven, and that she shares Jesus’s job of being a mediator between man and God. 

[Catholics have their own Bible, the New American Bible.  And to maintain the idea of Mary’s eternal virginity, they changed Matthew 1:18 from “before [Mary and Joseph] came together” (which according to the concordance means “conjugal cohabitation”: marriage, which would include marital sex) to “before they lived together,” which could happen without sex.  And in the footnotes, they explain that when a verse refers to Jesus’s human brothers and sisters, it means cousins/extended family.] 

Catholics pray to Mary, angels, and dead saints, asking for their help.  They believe priests are mediators between us and God, so they confess their sins to priests.  And the priests pronounce forgiveness, after commanding them to do certain things to atone for their sins, like praying many prayers including several “Hail Mary’s.”  Christians do not believe we can earn or secure our forgiveness by doing these kinds of things (God alone forgives sins, and only because of Jesus’s death for sins).  We do not believe in praying to anyone other than God.  And we believe that we can confess our sins directly to God.

[From what I understand, Catholics believe in having the priests (and Mary, the angels, and dead saints) mediate between people and God out of respect for God’s high position, believing that the common person should not approach God too informally.  While I appreciate the respect they are trying to show to God, they forget that God lowered Himself to a “human” level by putting on flesh and coming to earth to make Himself accessible to us.  Making Him inaccessible to people again is reversing/denying what God did, regardless of their good intentions.  Ephesians 2:18: “For through him [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”  Hebrews 4:16 10:19: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need… we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…”]

Salvation for a Catholic comes through faith plus their good works, including adherence to the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church: baptism, confirmation (the final step of baptism), taking communion (which they believe has been transformed into Christ’s actual body and blood, instead of being just symbolic, as Christians believe), the regular confession of sins to the priest, being anointed by the priest with oil when you are sick or near death, the ordination of Catholic ministers at three different levels, and Holy Matrimony (being married in the Catholic Church).

Catholics also believe in purgatory, a place your soul goes to when you die where you work out any unconfessed sins so that you become fit for heaven.  (What did Jesus’s death accomplish then, if we are still required to pay for our sins?  And where is this taught in the Bible?)  Living Catholics can help those in purgatory get out of it faster by praying for them, by doing good things on their behalf, and by being granted “indulgences” by the leadership.  “Indulgences” is the idea that the Catholic Church has accumulated God’s favor over the years through prayers and good works, etc., and that a priest or bishop can dip into that “bank account” and take some of God’s favor and extend it to a person in purgatory as a “pardon for sin,” declaring that the person can now get out of purgatory so many days early.  (Huh!?!  Where is that idea in the Bible?) 

Here are some verses to consider when examining Catholic theology:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim. 2:5).  Jesus Himself is the only mediator between men and God.  How wrong it is to elevate mere humans to Jesus’s level and to blatantly defy Scripture.

“And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.”  (Matthew 23:9) Catholic priests are called “father.”  This verse isn’t about genetic fathers but spiritual fathers, saying that there’s only One who should be called “Father”: God!  Of all the titles they could pick, they pick the very one that’s forbidden.

“They [false teachers] forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods …” (1 Tim 4:3).  Priests are not allowed to marry, according to the Catholic Church.  However, the Bible claims that church leaders are to be “the husband of but one wife … He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.”  (1 Tim. 3:2-4)  You can’t have a family or wife if you’re not allowed to marry (a rule made up by men, not God).  And Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Fridays during Lent, another rule made up by the Catholic Church, not God.

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”  (Matt. 6:7) What do the priests require of you so that you can earn forgiveness for your sins?  That you repeat a certain number of prayers over and over again.  And you are required – as a good Catholic – to pray the rosary.  More repetitive prayer, most of which are prayers to Mary.

And yet who did Jesus tell us to direct our prayers to?  “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven …’” (Matt. 6:9) Jesus also instructed us a couple verses later to ask God to forgive our sins, but in a Catholic church, you ask the priest to do it.  Because in the Catholic church, he is the one who grants (or withholds) forgiveness, requiring you to jump through their hoops first, as if they have the authority to grant or withhold forgiveness or to require more than what God does in the Bible.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins …”  (1 John 1:9).  And who is “he” in this verse?  The priests, those self-appointed “fathers”?  NO!  It’s God Himself.

“… should not a people inquire of their God?  Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”  (Isaiah 8:19) And I think we can also apply it like this: “… should not a people pray only to their God?  Why pray to the dead on behalf of the living?”  (They might say that they don't pray to Mary, just that they ask her to pray for them.  But once again, "why consult the dead on behalf of the living”?  Why consult another human instead of God?)

Look even at what an angel told John when he fell before it in worship: “At this I fell at his feet to worship him.  But he said to me, ‘Do not do it!  I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God!” (Rev 19:10)  And yet what’s the Catholic church doing?  Worshipping servants of God and dead humans and requiring that their followers pray to them.  It's quite disturbing to see the many pictures on-line of Catholics kneeling before statues of the Pope and Mary and the "saints."  Kneeling in worship!  God commands us to not make images and to not bow down to them, but this is exactly what the Catholic church does.

“But wait,” a Catholic would say, “Mary wasn’t just a mere human!  She was sinless!”  And what does the Bible say?  Not one verse about Mary being sinless (or ascending bodily into heaven or being called the "Queen of heaven" or “Mother of God”)!  However, there are many verses about Jesus being sinless, which is why His death alone could satisfy the payment required for mankind’s sins (2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22, Hebrews 4:15, 7:26, 1 John 3:5).  And furthermore, it clearly says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  Not “all but Mary have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

While I do respect the fact that there are a lot of good, God-fearing people in the Catholic Church and that it’s been a stepping-stone to real faith for many people, I think that the Catholic church itself has become more about "religion" and less about biblical faith, less about a true, saving relationship with Jesus.  It has added many rules that are not in the Bible and many layers to the true gospel that are not biblical, corrupting the Truth and the church and, I believe, leading many people away from the real truth of the Bible.  (To convince people that they’ll be saved if they just follow the man-made, extra-biblical rules of the Catholic church - when the Bible says that the only way to be saved is to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus - is heresy.  Damnable heresy.)

[Update 5/21/18:  I just watched something alarming online, a clip of Pope Francis telling people that a personal relationship with Jesus is dangerous and harmful.  He's basically saying that it's dangerous to attempt to have a relationship with Jesus Christ without the mediation of the church -the Catholic church, of course.  He says that being a Christian means belonging to the church (Catholic, of course).

Umm ... NO!  Being a Christian means being a follower of Jesus Christ.  The church is simply the followers of Christ coming together for fellowship, to lift each other up, to pray together, to worship together, and to study the Word together.  Jesus came before the church.  Jesus is the foundation of and head of the Church.  Not the other way around.

Yes, we Christians need to be in fellowship with other believers ... BUT the church is not the way to salvation; Jesus is.  The church doesn't save us; Jesus does.  The church isn't God on earth; Jesus is.  The church isn't the way, the truth, and the life; Jesus is.  The church does not supersede Jesus.  The Catholic Church, the pope, has not taken Jesus's place here on earth.  And there will be consequences for the pope claiming so!

Furthermore, the Catholic church is working on forming an alliance between Islam and Christianity (actually, I should say “their brand of Christianity”).  Anyone who is actually a faithful follower of either Muhammad or Jesus knows that these two cannot be reconciled, that they cannot both be true, not when they both have very different foundational truths.

To my Catholic friends:  I suggest you get out of the Catholic church.  You don't need the Catholic church to be a Christian or to tell you what God's Word says.  Read it for yourself and find out who Jesus really is and what it really means to be a follower of Christ.]

Islam:

Founded by Muhammad in the 600s A.D., who claimed to be a prophet but did not claim to be divine.  The Qur’an (Koran) is their holy book, which they believe supersedes all other holy writings, even the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).  Muhammad claims that the angel Gabriel dictated this book to him.  There is also the Sunnah which contains teachings and sayings of Muhammad, and the Shariah which is a collection of strict laws that govern a Muslim’s life.

According to Islam, there is only one God - Allah.  The idea of the Trinity is highly offensive and blasphemous.  And Muslims believe that God cannot be known.  To a Muslim, Jesus was not God but a respected prophet who was sinless and did miracles.  He did not die on a cross nor rise again.  But God took Him to heaven before he went to the cross (because no prophet could die such a humiliating death) and someone else was in His place, disguised as Jesus (such as Judas).  Also, Jesus will not come again before judgment.  Muhammad, the last and greatest prophet, will be the one coming to usher in the End.

In Islam, man is born as a clean slate, as opposed to the Christian belief that man is born in sin and separated from God.  And each Muslim has to make up for their own sins by being a faithful Muslim and following Islam’s Five Pillars of the Faith: converting to Islam through a Statement of Belief, praying five times a day toward Mecca, giving alms, celebrating Ramadan, and taking a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims are taught that God does not love people who do wrong, whereas Christians believe that God loves all sinners and has paid the price for their sins.  For a Muslim, heaven is a place of sensual pleasure where a man is given a bunch of virgins to pleasure him for all of eternity.  (Would that really be a deeply, eternally-satisfying reward?  How long before those 72 virgins are old news, before the constant sex loses its appeal?  And do you know what the married women get as a reward?  To be with their husbands for all of eternity, yet to feel so beautiful that she won't be jealous about him having sex with the 72 virgins.  WHAT KIND OF FREAKIN’ REWARD IS THAT!?!  That ought to make any woman today enraged!  What kind of an eternity is that!?!  Definitely a religion made up by a man!)  And hell awaits those who oppose God and Muhammad.

On a different note, there is much contention and confusion nowadays over the idea of “Muslim extremists” versus “moderate, peaceful Muslims.”  (In fact, many Muslims say that the word "Islam" means "peace," whereas it really means submission to God ... and then you will find peace.  Islam is about forcing people into submission to God, often through violence or extreme control, where they will then find "peace.")  While most Muslims in America do seem to be peaceful, it cannot be ignored that Muhammad did, in fact, teach of warfare and killing those who disagree with him.  I believe his earliest writings promoted tolerance and a “live and let live” kind of mentality.  But his later writings promote killing “infidels,” subjugating those who disagree, Shariah law, and Jihad (warfare against their enemies).  And these later writings are supposed to override the previous ones.  Therefore, those who are “extremists” are not really misrepresenting Islam.  They are actually the most committed and are following the whole Qur’an to the letter.

[Some Islamic passages to consider:

Qur'an 9:5:  "... slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush ..."

5:51:  "O you who believe!  do not take the Jews and Christians for friends; they are friends of each other."

9:29, 73, 123:  "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day... O Prophet!  strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them… O you who believe!  fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness."

48:29:  "Those who follow Muhammad are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other."

Also see Qur'an 4:95-96, Qur'an 47:7, Sahih Muslim 30, Sunan An-Nasa'i 3099, Sunan Ibn Majah 2763, Sahih al-Bukhari 6922, Hadith 1:13, Hadith 19:4294, Hadith 9:4, etc.  It's all there, in Muhammad's own words.  This is not a religion of peace, but of warfare, of forcing others to submit, and of killing those who don't.]

And if I remember correctly, they believe that Jihad (holy war) will help usher in the End, the coming of Muhammad.  This is why they (the “radical extremists”) are not afraid to declare Jihad on people and why trying to negotiate peace with them will not work.  They want the war because it will bring them rewards, and it will bring Muhammad back again. 

To those who say that Muhammad taught peace, that Islam is a religion of peace, I would say that, looking at his own words, Muhammad himself would disagree.  Christians are to love their enemies.  Muslims are to kill their enemies.  Christians are to be willing to die for their faith.  Muslims are to kill for theirs.

But let me say again that many Muslims seem peaceful and just want to practice their faith in peace.  We don’t have to fear those who aren’t violent, nor should we be lashing out at them.  Instead, we need to show them the same kind of grace and love that we should be showing everyone.  Jesus died for them, too, that they might believe in Him and find everlasting life.  (How can we tell the difference between violent and non-violent Muslims?  I don’t know.  But until someone proves to be violent, show them Jesus’s love and grace.  And pray for them.  This is what we Christians are called to do.)

And from what I’ve heard recently, many Muslims are coming to Christ because they are having visions of Jesus, revealing to them the truth of who He is and that they need to believe in Him to be saved.  It seems that God is working in special ways to save these people.  And you know it’s real when a Muslim converts to Christianity, because they do it at the risk of being attacked, banished, or killed.  They would never make this decision lightly, unless they were fully convinced, because it could cost them everything.

Hinduism:

It has no founder but began sometime in 1800-1000 B.C. in India through the mixing of people groups and their polytheistic religions.  Hinduism has no particular central theology or doctrine, but it allows for many various beliefs, such as believing in whatever gods you want or none at all.  Oftentimes, they worship a god in just about everything in nature.  But all Hindus believe in the idea of reincarnation and karma.

Basically, they believe that souls are repeatedly reincarnated into various forms on earth (human or animal), going through various levels of suffering while they work out their karma in order to reach the highest level of being united with the infinite spirit, Brahma (their idea of “God”). 

Karma is a sort of “point system” based on the good or bad things you do.  And karma determines what kind of body/station you are given in your next reincarnation.  And, last I knew, they believe in not interfering with someone else’s destiny.  So if someone is suffering, it is their karmic destiny.  They brought it on themselves from the way they lived their previous lives, and no one should interfere with them while they work out their karma.  (This is why they did not help those in the lowest rung of the caste system – the Untouchables.  They believed the Untouchables deserved what they got because of their past lives and that they had to work out their own karma.  They may have changed this recently, though.)  And once you tip the scales enough to the “good” – through yoga and meditation and good works and faithfully living within your reincarnated position – you will be released from the endless cycles of reincarnation and be absorbed into Brahma. 

(Yoga is a form of Hindu worship.  Those poses are prayer poses to Hindu gods, meant to align you with the universe and with Brahma, where “all are one” and where you learn “I am Brahma.”  And yet the Christians who practice yoga act like it’s just a harmless, “spiritually neutral” form of exercise.  But is it really!?!  Would God say it is?)

They believe that “God” (Brahma) is in everything and that everyone is part of God, which is why they worship so many different gods and allow different beliefs.  They believe that all beliefs might take different paths, but that they all lead to the same thing, to the only reality out there: God (Brahma).  (This is why it's so weird that they have recently been violently attacking Christians.  Their beliefs allow for any and all beliefs.  Apparently except Christianity now, I guess.)  Idol worship – worshipping physical items of stone and wood – is common in Hindu homes.  And the dot that they wear on their foreheads represents a spiritual “third eye.”

[In comparison, what does the Bible say about the way to heaven?

Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  We are all sinners, which is why we need a Savior.

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Because of our sins, we are all headed towards death, spiritual death, eternal separation from God.  But out of His love for us, God offers us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.  We don’t work for a free gift; we can only accept it.

John 3:16,18: “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… 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.”  Romans 3:24: “God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”  Jesus (God in the flesh) paid the penalty for our sins so that we don’t have to.  He died the death we deserve so that we could live.  And all we have to do is believe, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  That’s how we accept the gift.  And if we don’t believe - if we reject His gift, His death in our place - then we choose to pay the penalty ourselves, which is spiritual death.  Hell.

John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”  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.”  There is no other person who can save us because no one else but Jesus (God in the flesh) died in our place, for our sins.

Romans 10:9,13: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  It’s that easy.  No struggling to pay for your sins.  No trying to constantly tip the scales to “good enough,” never quite sure when it’s really “good enough.”  Just call on Jesus, believe in Him as Lord and Savior, and you will be saved.  God made it that easy because He loves us and wants us all in heaven with Him. 

2 Peter 3:9: “He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  He doesn’t want anyone to perish.  There are no “Untouchables” to Him.  He reaches down to us all, to pull us out of hell and into heaven with Him.  And all we have to do is grab onto His hand and let Him do it.]

Buddhism:

Founded in the 500s B.C. by Gautama Siddhartha (a.k.a. Buddha).  Buddhists do not believe in the Bible, God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.  If they do believe in Jesus, they believe He was an enlightened teacher or an avatar (the savior of your choice), but He was not God.  Buddhists believe that life is about suffering, brought about by selfish desires (and all desires are bad and need to be eradicated).  If you can get to a point where you master your desires and no longer crave anything, you will be released from the suffering-filled cycle of reincarnation.  And the way to overcome cravings and selfish desires is through mastering the Noble Eightfold Path.  This is when you get to the point where you have the right viewpoint, intentions, speech, behavior, job, effort, mindfulness, and meditation.  If you can do all this properly, you will not suffer anymore and will reach a state of nirvana, a sort of perfect consciousness.

Jehovah’s Witnesses:

In the beginning was the Almighty God, Jehovah.  He created Jesus, who isn’t really God but who can be considered a “lesser god.”  Jesus actually was Michael the archangel when he was in heaven.  After he was created, Jesus created everything else.  But Jehovah is really the only God.  There is no Trinity – no “three in one” of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is actually a teaching of Satan (according to them).

The founder, Charles Taze Russell, predicted that Jesus’s coming and Armageddon would happen in 1914.  When it didn’t happen, he claimed it was an invisible, spiritual coming of Jesus.  The next leader changed the date to 1925, and then claimed he was “misunderstood” when it didn’t happen.  He also claimed that only the first 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses would get into heaven.  The rest (those who became Witnesses after 1935) can’t get into heaven because “it’s full,” but they can earn everlasting life on earth as part of the “great crowd.”  The next leader changed the date of Armageddon to 1975.

[Here’s some of what the Old Testament says about false prophets:

Ezekiel 13:9: “My [God’s] hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations.”  Deuteronomy 13:1-5: “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he spoke takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods … and let us worship them,’ then you must not listen to the words of the prophet or dreamer.  The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.  It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.  That prophet or dreamer must be put to death [Old Testament/Jewish rule, not for nowadays], because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God …”  Deuteronomy 18:20-22: “But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.  You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’  If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.  That prophet has spoken presumptuously.  Do not be afraid of him.”

And here are some warnings for the Christian Church from the New Testament:

1 John 4:1-3: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in the flesh [not just that Jesus lived, but that He was Christ, the Messiah] is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

2 Peter 2:1-2: “… there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”

2 Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For a time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths.”

It is a serious thing for a person to claim that they speak for God.  And it’s even more serious if they are wrong or lying about it.  Be careful who you listen to.]

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was a perfect man when He was on earth but nothing more.  And His death was a “good trade” for Adam’s sin, basically buying us the right to earn our salvation through good works, such as by evangelizing door-to-door.  Of course, this is only for Jehovah’s Witnesses.  And after dying, Jesus stopped being human and once again became the archangel, Michael.

The leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses teaches their followers that they must not try to read and understand the Bible themselves, but they must learn their theology from headquarters, from the Watchtower.  And they are never to question the Watchtower.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own Bible translation: The New World Translation, which alters certain verses to fit their teachings.  Such as, they took John 1:1 “... and the Word was God” and changed it to “... and the Word was a god,” thereby making Jesus sort of “a god” but not the God.  And they add the word “other” when talking about created things to make it sound like Jesus was created first and then he created all the other things.

And while they talk about grace and salvation, they do not say that salvation is by faith in Christ alone.  They claim that you earn your salvation – your spot on the eternal earth (because remember that heaven is full) - by working for it through your faithful obedience, faithful attendance, and door-to-door work.  And there is no hell.  All non-Jehovah’s Witnesses will be annihilated, simply ceasing to exist.  (While new Jehovah’s Witness publications admit that Russell was the founder, they distance themselves from his beliefs and teachings.  Interesting!  How can one follow a religion made up by a man whose authority and theology they refuse to acknowledge?)

Mormons (Latter-Day Saints):

In the 1820’s, a teenage Joseph Smith, Jr. had a vision where the Father and Son (or so he believed) appeared to him and told him that all Christian denominations are off-track and that he should not join any of them.  Several years later, supposedly through an occultic “seer” practice, the Book of Mormon was “shown” to Smith.  And Mormonism was born.  (Modern Mormons deny his occultic practices.)

According to Mormons, new revelations have been given to Mormon leaders which should be added to the Bible.  So while they do acknowledge the Bible, Mormons base their faith primarily on the Book of Mormon, along with two other Mormon books, considering them to be inspired words of God.  (Yet they feel the Bible has been corrupted, making it the least reliable book.)

One of these extra Mormon books (Doctrine & Covenants) is a book of prophecies made by Smith which did not come true.  And ironically (considering their belief that the Bible has been corrupted), the book of Smith’s prophecies has been altered over the years.  (To make them less inaccurate?  I guess that when you can still get new revelations from God, you can make all the changes you want and still call it “God-inspired.”)

The other Mormon book (Pearl of Great Price) was partly inspired from a papyri fragment that Smith bought in 1835, which he thought was the writings of Abraham.  But in the mid-1900s, it was reexamined and found to be about Egyptian funerals and how to embalm people.  Yet the Mormons today claim that God supernaturally revealed the “Book of Abraham” to Smith through it.

According to the Mormons: In the beginning was a race of “gods” who were all created by previous “gods.”  Somewhere along the line, God the Father was created and sent to a planet to live as a man, where he worked his way to godhood.  Then he returned to the heavens and had a bunch of “spirit babies” with his goddess-wife.  The first spirit-baby was Jesus.  (However, it’s also said that Jesus was created when God the Father came to earth, took on a human body, and had sex with Mary.)  And the next was Lucifer, Jesus’s younger brother.  And then, God created all the rest of the spirit-babies who would eventually inhabit bodies on earth and become people.

God’s plan was to test people on earth while they lived in human bodies, and then they would return to him after death.  But he needed someone to make amends for Adam’s sin.  And when he chose Jesus, Lucifer got jealous and rebelled.  And after a Great War in heaven, Lucifer was banished to earth where he was condemned to live as a spirit, never getting a human body.  Jesus and the other spirit-babies then made human bodies out of the earth’s material.  However, some spirit-babies who fought against Lucifer in the Great War didn’t really fight that hard, and their punishment was to be born with black skin.

Smith initially taught that there was a Trinity. However, he eventually changed it to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate gods.  (The Holy Spirit was never able to get a human body.)  To attain godhood, according to Mormon teaching, Jesus would have had to have been married (most likely having multiple wives).  And after Jesus died, he fully reached godhood.  Eventually, Jesus will take God the Father’s place when God the Father moves on to a higher realm.

While Mormon’s claim that salvation is only possible because of Jesus’ death, His death only covered Adam’s sin, but we are responsible for our own sins.  His death simply earned us the right to pay for our sins and gain our salvation, through our strict adherence to Mormon doctrines and practices.  Like Jesus, humans can earn godhood through our works and rituals and proper Mormon living.  We can even eventually earn our own planet.  But there is no eternal life for those who are not members of the Mormon Church.

Mormons strongly reject the label of “cult” or “false religion,” claiming that they are indeed biblical Christians who believe in the power of Jesus Christ to save.  But like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they use many of the same terms Christians do, but they have redefined them, ending up with a completely different gospel.

[2 Timothy 3:16 says that “All Scripture is God-breathed…”  2 Peter 1:21 says that the prophecy of Scripture was not from men, but it was given to men by the Holy Spirit.  And so what we all need to decide is “Which one will we believe and put our faith in: the Bible or the other writings which contradict the Bible?”  And if the Bible is true, then all others that worship different gods and teach different ways to get to heaven are wrong, from false prophets.  Galatians 1:8: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.”  It can’t be the Bible and other writings, but it has to be the Bible or the other writings.  And I, for one, think it’s easier to trust and worship a God who loved us enough to die for us, who offers us a free gift of eternal life, instead of one who makes us work for our salvation.]

Freemasonry:

This is a secret society, a sort of fraternal brotherhood, surrounded in rituals, symbolism, and mystery.  According to them, man is basically good, we can reach perfection, we need to live good, moral, charitable lives, and there will be an afterlife with rewards and punishments.  However, the Bible is not the inspired Word of God.  And Jesus wasn’t God but just a man.  (They are not even allowed to speak Jesus’s name in their meetings, so they delete His name when using the Bible.)  And we improve our standing before God (and gain salvation) through good works.  Also, they believe that all religions essentially believe in the same God.  So as long as you believe in a “supreme being,” you can be a Mason.

While they initially think that they were getting into a God-based religion, as they climb up the various levels of freemasonry, it reveals itself to be more pagan and occultic than they thought.  The higher you go in the levels, the more pagan rituals you perform, the more prayers you are required to pray to false gods (even praying allegiance to them, even to Lucifer), the more blasphemies against God you are required to pronounce, and the more you learn you don’t need God (that there is no God) because you are a god.  You are even required to pronounce curses of pain and death upon you and your family if you share the secrets of Freemasonry. 

[Col. 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”  1 Cor. 10:20-21: “… the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”  Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before me.”]

Freemasonry is widespread (even my neighbor has the “Freemason” emblem on his door), and has ties with or is similar to Shriners (those who reached the highest level of freemasonry), Job’s Daughters (girls related to Masons), Eastern Star, Elks, Moose, Buffalos, DeMolay groups, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, Knight’s Templar, Illuminati, Skull and Bones Society, and many others.

Christian Science:

Founded in the 1870s by Mary Baker Eddy.  She taught that there is no physical reality.  Everything is basically just a metaphysical idea.  Nothing really exists as matter.  Therefore, there is no sin, no sickness, no death.  It’s all in our minds.  And since nothing really exists except ideas, you can control your health and healing by believing that you cannot really be hurt or sick.  Even God is just a principle, not a person.  And heaven and hell are just states of the mind, based on whether we do wrong or right.  And there is no need for a Savior – for Jesus – because all people are already eternally saved.  Christian Scientists say that Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures supersedes the Bible and that the Bible can only be understood in light of it.

Scientology:

Founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954.  They don’t have anything to do with the idea of the God of the Bible or Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  There is no such thing as sin or heaven or hell.  They believe all people are immortal spirits who control their own bodies and universe.  And as you work with an “auditor,” you can progress up the ladder to “total freedom” where you will gain total control over matter, energy, space, and time.

Hare Krishna (ISKCON):

Founded in the 1500s, with a foundation in Hinduism and the Hindu writing, Bhagavad-Gita.  Having a personal relationship with the god “Krishna” is the way to salvation.  And you earn your salvation by total devotion to Krishna and by tipping the karmic balance with an abundance of good works, by constantly chanting Krishna’s name and by obeying ISKCON rules throughout your reincarnated lives.  Jesus wasn’t the Savior.  He was either an enlightened teacher or may have been the son of Krishna.  But either way, He is not as important.  Krishna is the one to follow. 

[Isaiah 64:6: “… all our righteous acts are like filthy rags …”  In God’s eyes, the good things we do to try to earn heaven are “filthy rags,” no good.  Because we cannot earn salvation.  And thinking that we can is an insult to God, acting like He owes us salvation for the good things we do.  It’s thinking we can save ourselves, snubbing the costly sacrifice Jesus made for us when He died on the cross in our place.]

Church of Christ (International Church of Christ, ICC):

An evangelistic church determined to save the lost and make disciples.  The leader, Kip McKean, said that the Bible teaches that every city should only have one church.  And, of course, he claimed that the church he founded – the Boston Church of Christ – was the church and that none of the others in the city were of God. 

In order to obtain salvation, you must be baptized into and totally committed to the ICC, and you must live righteously.  And if you want to join the ICC but were baptized by a different church, you must be baptized again by them because only their baptisms are valid.  As a member, you must fully obey the leadership (with McKean at the top), even if asked to do something un-Christ-like.  You must submit all parts of your life to their authority, even your marital relationship.  They claim authority over a person’s every aspect of life because of Hebrews 13:17: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.”  You must also undergo intense discipleship, confess all sins to your mentor, and attend every ICC meeting.  And once you are a member, there is to be no sin in your life.  To accomplish this, many members pull away from family and friends and get more and more involved in the Church of Christ.  The leadership often confronts those who want to leave the ICC, bringing up their previously confessed sins (to harass them?  intimidate them?  blackmail them?) and telling them that they will go to hell if they leave the church.

[The Bible does say we are to obey leaders, but it also says that church leaders are not to lord it over people but should be examples to them (1 Peter 5:3), that whoever wants to be great (leaders) among us must become a servant (Matthew 20:26), and that not many should seek to be teachers because teachers will be judged more strictly (James 3:1).  And Matt. 23:13-15 condemns terrible spiritual leaders, showing us that not all spiritual leaders are good and godly: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to…. You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”  Never just blindly trust any old leader.  Not all leaders are worthy of being followed: “… they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matt. 15:14).  Always go back to Scripture to evaluate what any “spiritual leader” tells you.  Be a Berean!  “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).]

Unification Church (The Moonies):

Founded by Sun Myung Moon in 1954.  (In the US, it’s “Lovin’ Life Ministries.”)  Moon claims to have had a vision at the age of 16 where he was called to complete the mission that Jesus failed at.  They believe that Jesus (a perfect man, but not God) was supposed to save humans by getting married and having sinless children.  Obviously, since Jesus died (and didn’t rise again, according to them), he failed.  So Moon stepped in to finish the job.  (What a guy!)  He teaches that the mass weddings that he and his wife perform and bless will result in sinless offspring for the couples they marry.  (I bet it doesn’t take long for that illusion to come crashing down on the new parents.)

They don’t use the Bible.  They use Moon’s writing, The Divine Principle.  Moon believes that he is the Second Coming of Messiah.  Moonies pray in the name of Sun Myung Moon and his wife, the “True Parents.”  They believe that even Jesus bows down to Moon.  The Moonies believe that people are basically good, even divine, and that we can save ourselves by our good works.  And eventually everyone, even Satan, will be saved.

Moonies support the idea of contacting the dead and channeling spirits because they believe that dead ancestors can help you become divine.  

[But what does the Bible say?  “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.  I am the Lord your God.” (Lev. 19:31) and “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.  Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.  Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.  You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” (Deut. 18:9-13) and “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God?  Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19)]  

In fact, after his “vision,” Moon claims he spent years contacting spirits of “great teachers” like Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, etc. for guidance and knowledge.  He even claims that Satan revealed to him the real reason for mankind’s Fall - that Eve had sex with Satan and then with Adam, causing sin to be passed down through their children.  [If you knew something was revealed to you by Satan, why on earth would you believe it?]

Unitarianism:

Jesus wasn’t God, but He’s just a man who reached perfect levels of god-consciousness.  The Bible is not God-inspired, but just a myth.  And God is not a conscious being, but just a force.  Since they’re not bound to a book like the Bible, they can update and change their theology.  In their theology, people are not “sinners” by nature and don’t need a Savior.  Mankind is his own savior.  And all that’s required for salvation is to live a good life and treat others as you want to be treated.  It’s a “Love everybody ... It’s all good ... No rules, no judgment, no guilt” kind of religion, which I’m sure is very appealing in this age of moral relativity.  They focus only on this lifetime, believing that heaven and hell don’t exist.  Even the very idea of hell offends Unitarians (because that would imply rules and judgment and “right and wrong”).  They try to find and embrace spirituality in everything, such as in nature, but also even in things like neo-paganism, allowing Wiccans to join them.

[One of Satan’s best tricks is to get people to think that he and hell don’t exist. But…

Matthew 25:41,46: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devils and his angels…. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

2 Thess. 1:9: “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord …”

Rev. 20:15, 20:10: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire… And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur … they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

1 Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

John 8:44: “You belong to your father, the devil … He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

2 Cor. 11:14: “… Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

2 Cor. 4:4: “The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Which is eternally riskier: believing or not believing there’s a devil?  What are the risks of both?  What if you’re wrong?]

The Emerging/Emergent Church

This is a new-ish movement, from the 1990’s.  And it’s going to be one to watch, to be carefully discerning about.  These churches want to get away from the stiff, organized way churches traditionally operate, making themselves inviting, fresh, relevant, more informal.  And I don’t have a problem with that, but they seem to be trading in biblical truth in order to do this.  (A BIG problem!)  Emergent churches seem to have a fluid, undefined, shifting doctrine and way of living, depending on the culture around them.  They don’t have a clear “faith statement,” no defined stands on doctrine or biblical truths.  In fact, some of their biggest leaders deny the authority of Scripture and basic doctrines like eternal hell and the virgin birth.  They say things like, “We are all God’s children.  He loves everyone, so eventually everyone will be saved, and no one will spend eternity in hell.” 

[Well, no wonder these kinds of churches are popular then!  Because it’s all warm and fuzzy.  But did you know that Jesus spoke often of hell, more than anyone else in the Bible, warning people about it, to help them escape it?  In Luke 16:23, He calls it a place of “torment”; in Matthew 8:12, a place of “darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”; in Mark 9:43, a place of eternal “fire”; in Matthew 25:46, “eternal punishment”; etc.  To ignore the truth of hell is to not only to ignore much of what Jesus taught, but it’s also failing to warn people, failing to tell them how to avoid it. 

And while we’re all God’s creation, we’re not all His “children.”  His children are those who call Him “Father,” who accept Jesus as Lord.  John 1:12: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  

And, yes, God is love.  But there is another side to Him: His holiness, justice, and wrath.  His holiness cannot tolerate sin, which is why we sinful humans could never reach God on our own, Hab. 1:13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”  His justice demands that the penalty for sin be paid.  (If He let sin go unpunished, it would be as if He didn’t care that we lie, cheat, steal, hurt, kill, that we disobey Him, reject Him, worship other gods, etc.)  And His wrath punishes sin.  Col. 3:5-6: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”  Romans 2:5: “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”  Isaiah 13:9,11: “See, the day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it…. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins….”

But the world ignores this side of God because it’s not what they want to hear.  They excuse their sin and idolatry by viewing Him as a gentle, squishy, all-loving grandfather who winks at sin, who doesn’t enforce rules or punish anyone, and who just wants to make us happy, whatever it takes.  (Or maybe they think He threatens us with hell if we don’t behave, to squash our fun or keep us in line.)  But when God’s holiness, justice, and wrath is denied or downplayed - in favor of just His love - there will be a major imbalance, major consequences.  And a lot of people will be shocked to someday meet the other side of Him.

Hebrews 10:31: “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The thing is, God’s love and justice are both part of His redemptive plan to save us.  Because He is just, He couldn’t let sin go unpunished.  But because He loves us so much and doesn’t want to punish us, He took the punishment on Himself.  He poured out His wrath against sin on Himself, to spare us from it.  It would be like a righteous judge who has to apply the law, to demand that the penalty for a crime be paid.  But he is also a loving man who loves the law-breaker, who doesn’t want to punish them, and who knows they can’t afford to pay the penalty themselves.  But since he can’t let the crime go unpunished (for then he wouldn’t be righteous, just, or trustworthy anymore), he has to demand the penalty be paid.  And so he does … but then he pays it himself.  His love and his justice come together in this one act: paying the penalty that he had to require. 

Contrary to what the world thinks, God doesn’t threaten people with hell if they’re not good enough.  He knows we could never be “good enough,” and so He does all He can to save us from hell.  And His love doesn’t excuse sin.  His love paid for it. 

1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loves us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  2 Cor. 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God...”  Gal. 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…”  Isaiah 53:5: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  Romans 5:8-9: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”  Romans 3:23-26: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice… so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus…”  

God cannot take sin lightly.  It cost Him His life.  He died on a cross to save us, paying the penalty for our rebellion against Him.  And all He asks us to do is believe.  But if we refuse Jesus’s sacrifice for our sin, His death in our place, then we choose to take the punishment for our sin on ourselves.  John 3:16,18: “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… 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.”]

The Emergent church acts like they believe Scripture while at the same time questioning it or dismantling it.  In effect, they end up teaching half-truths, watered down so much that it’s not truth anymore.  However, straying from clear biblical truth opens the door to all kinds of heresy.  This church sounds like a Christian version of Unitarianism, a sort of “It’s all good and everyone’s just fine” view.  It seems to be more about a feel-good spirituality than biblical truth, more about blending in with the world than about taking the firm biblical stands that make Christians stand out from the world, more about telling society what it wants to hear than about preaching the hard truths that might offend them, more about being popular than being faithful.  2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths.” 

I don’t care how popular or appealing it may be, if it contradicts the Bible then it’s not good.  Scripture matters.  Truth matters.  And people will be held accountable for embracing and spreading falsehoods and feel-good half-truths, whether they call themselves Christian or not.  Shifting, flexible truths are no truths at all.  Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Matthew 7:15-23: “Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them… Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire… Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”

 And remember that Jesus taught that the world will hate Christians because of the stands we take, the truths we teach.  They won’t understand it or like it because it convicts us of sin, of our need to get right with God, of our need for a Savior.  And so if everyone loves everything you’re teaching, if New-Age people like Oprah praise your church, if worldly people think it’s just swell and are comfortable there, then you’re probably doing it wrong in God’s estimation. 

2 Tim. 3:12: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  John 15:18-20: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you… If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also...”  1 Cor. 1:18: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”  

And what is the gospel, in a nutshell?  That we are separated from God because of sin, that Jesus died for our sins to save us and He rose again to prove He is God and has power over death and sin, that we need to believe in Him to have eternal life, and that if we don’t believe in Him then we reject the only way to heaven and will end up in hell eternally.

Biblical truth is offensive and convicting to those living in sin, who don’t think they need to be saved from anything.  And that’s why the world will hate us. 

[Unless it’s because you’re a smug, judgmental, jerky Christian who isn’t reflecting Jesus’s compassionate heart, graciousness, and “truth in love.”  In that case, you need to get right with the Lord before you try to force others to do it.  Eph. 4:15,32: “But speaking the truth in love… Be kind and compassionate to one another…”  Phil. 4:5: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”  Gal. 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  1 Cor. 13:1-2,4-8: “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails…”]

And finally, other groups to be cautious and discerning about are Bethel Church in Redding, California, the New Apostolic Reformation, Word of Faith churches, and Hillsong.  I am just now learning about these, but they seem to be drifting really off-track: elevating emotions and exciting experiences over Scripture, elevating “love” over Truth, putting on rock shows and entertaining people, glorifying themselves more than the Lord, using occultic and New Age kinds of practices, focusing more on signs and wonders and spiritual gifts than on the gospel, watering down the Truth so much that it’s basically meaningless, teaching that we can basically bring heaven to earth and do the same things Jesus did, denying His full deity, spreading the "prosperity gospel," etc.  Mega-churches in general seem to be more about attracting people than preaching the Truth, more about making people feel good than warning them about the hard biblical truths of sin, hell, wrath, obedience, godliness, our need for a Savior, etc.  But once you throw out sound doctrine and spiritual discernment, once you elevate personal experiences over Truth, anything goes.  Not everyone who does signs and wonders is godly.  Not everyone who preaches is preaching Scriptural truth.

Matt. 24:24: “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.”  

2 Cor. 11:14-15: “… for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.”

          Here’s what God says about the lukewarm churches (many mega-churches) of today: Rev. 3:15-17: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”  I’m not saying these groups are indeed heretics, but I’m saying you need to be discerning about them.  Look past their flashy shows, feel-good music, and “lovey-dovey” messages … and compare what they teach (or fail to teach) to what the Bible teaches.  Be discerning!

            [Concerns about Bethel:  Bethel encourages something called “grave sucking” or “grave soaking” where you can absorb a dead person's spiritual anointing (Holy Spirit powers) if you lay on their grave or grab ahold of their headstone ... and something called a “fire tunnel” in order to acquire the Holy Spirit ... and such things as waking up angels and raising the dead and "glory clouds" of gold dust, etc.  I found this video clip and criticism about the “glory cloud” to be very interesting (it might have been deleted though).  If you watch it, notice the manipulative techniques that are meant to keep people from questioning the cloud.  Also notice Bill Johnson’s critical comment about how the church has come together around a sermon throughout history, whereas Israel came together around God’s presence.  And since he’s all about God’s presence, he would willingly throw out everything else (and I assume he’s referring to sound doctrine) to celebrate God’s presence.  This upholds personal, emotional experience over anything else, including Scripture.  The problem here is that “God’s presence” is a vague term and can be used to define just about any abnormal, sensationalistic, “supernatural” thing – even demonic activity.  Because once you throw out sound doctrine and spiritual discernment, anything goes.  (Another phrase to watch out for from today's churches: "Christians are turning the Bible into God, letting the Bible take the place of God."  This is another way to shove the Bible onto the back-burner, to allow one's own experience of God and interpretation of God to replace biblical doctrine.)

            Speaking of the "glory cloud," do you know what happened in the Bible when people experienced God’s presence?

Leviticus 9:23-24:  “Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting.  When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.  Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.  And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.”

Exodus 19:16:  As Moses gathered the people around Mount Sinai … “there was a thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.  Everyone in the camp trembled.”

1 Kings 19: 12-13:  “After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face . . .”

Isaiah 6:5:  “‘Woe is me!’ I cried.  ‘I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”

Ezekiel 1:28:  “. . . This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.  When I saw it, I fell facedown, . . .”

Revelation 1:17:   “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. . . .”

            These people fell facedown, trembled, covered their faces, cried out in distress about their sinful condition, passed out.

            But what are the people at Bethel doing (if you can't see the other video, see this clip)?  Oohing and ahhing and getting out their phones to take videos and trying to catch the dust.  And listen in this clip to how unemotionally Bill Johnson drones on about what a great thing the "glory cloud" is.  His attitude and composure alone while he (supposedly) experienced a physical manifestation of God’s presence is enough to make me seriously question what’s really going on there.

             Not everyone who comes with signs and wonders is godly.  Not everyone who preaches is preaching Scriptural truth.

            “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.”  (Matthew 24:24)

            And Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light.  “… for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.”  (2 Cor. 11:14-15)

            On a different note, do you want to see something somewhat disturbing, or at least questionable?  Look up Hillsong London’s “Las Vegas-style” performance of “Silent Night.”  (I'm not sure what the comments are around the clip, just click on the video to see what you think.  It's the one of the guy on stage with blue light all over.)  And then there’s this Easter Service from 2016.  I’m not even sure what to make of it yet, but watch it and judge it for yourself.  And Hillsong has a "naked cowboy" youth pastor.  Watch this "women's conference" clip and decide if this looks godly, worshipful, and God-honoring ... or not.  How about this clip of women onstage wearing only towels?  

            "Houston, we have a problem!"

            FYI – I cannot vouch for any of the other content on the webpages I gave you links for, because I haven’t read it all.  I am simply considering the topic at hand.]

A few of the current heretical “Christian” teachings (I will not examine Calvinism in this section because this whole blog is about that.):

1. “There was no virgin birth.  ‘Virgin’ meant that Mary was a young woman or that she got pregnant the first time she had sex.”

         If you destroy the virgin birth, you deny the deity of Jesus, making Him into just a man.  But Matthew 1:18 says that Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph had “come together” (before marriage), and so if she didn’t get pregnant by Joseph and if you deny she was a virgin who conceived supernaturally, then you have to conclude she had an affair with another man (which is what Joseph thought at first).  Are Christians who deny the virgin birth willing to claim that?  And what about the fact that the angel told Joseph, in Matt 1:20, that the child Mary carried was from the Holy Spirit?  And Luke 1:35 says “The angel answered [to Mary], ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’”  And John 1:14 and 1 Tim. 3:16 say that God the Son came down to earth as a human.  John 1:18 says “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only [a reference to Jesus], who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”  Col. 2:9 tells us that all the fullness of God lives in bodily form in Christ.  Phil. 2:5-6 tells us that Jesus had the very nature of God.  Even Jesus Himself said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) because He and the Father “are one” (John 10:30).  In John 10:33, the Jews were going to stone Jesus because He was calling Himself God.  Jesus Himself acknowledged His Godhood.  The question is: Do you believe Him?

          [Along similar lines, I think another heresy would be "Christians can mix creation and evolution."  I agree with Ken Ham that to try to fit evolution into the creation account in Genesis is to do great damage to the authority of Scripture.  It's essentially claiming that God didn't really mean what He said the way He said it in Genesis (which is clearly not written like poetry as seen in other parts of the Bible, such as Song of Solomon).  This, in turn, has caused people to question what was written in other places in the Bible.  If what God said in Genesis about how He created the world is allegorical and not meant to be taken literally, then why shouldn't we view what the Bible says about Jesus's life, death, and resurrection as allegorical and non-literal?  How about what it says of heaven and hell?  Of angels and demons? Of the way to be saved?  Etc.  Altering God's Word to fit man's ideas is so damaging to the faith and to God's Word.  And yet we Christians continue to do it because, well, "because of science."  I, however, think that science confirms the creation account in Genesis and that the "evidence" the world uses to support evolution is actually better explained by Noah's flood, further confirming Genesis as true.  Who do you think is the one whispering "Did God really say ...?" about what God said in Genesis?  Because I've got a pretty good guess.  See this post of mine for a little more on this and for links to Ken Ham videos.]

2. “Because 'God is love', He loves me so much that He just wants me to be happy, in whatever way makes me happy.”

          I brought this up earlier, but this one makes me crazy because it’s used to excuse everything, as if what matters most to God is that we’re happy and having fun, even if we find happiness in sin.  After all, “It’s all about the love. And a loving God would never judge us or punish us or deny us anything we want. Right?”  But as I said earlier: Yes, God is love, but He is also just, righteous, holy.  (If He wasn’t, could we trust Him?)  And since He wants the best for us and for His kingdom, and since He knows what’s best, He has rules He expects us to follow.  (Would you want to live in a world without rules?  What problems could that lead to?  How might His rules actually be for our best?)  And there are consequences for not following them.

          1 Peter 1:15-16: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

          2 Corinthians 7:1: “… let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

          Proverbs 8:13: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil…”

          2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

          1 Thess. 5:22: “Avoid every kind of evil.”

          Eph. 5:3-6: “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people... No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”

          Galatians 5:19-21: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

          Romans 1:18: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

          2 Thess. 1:8: “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

          Deut. 5:29: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever.”

          (And this is just a taste.)  Where is “God just wants you to be happy” in any of this?  (Can you find a verse that says it anywhere in the Bible?)  You can only get a clear and accurate picture of God (and a proper fear of Him) when you keep His love and His holiness/justness in proper balance.  I fear that “God is all about the love” will cause many people to stray from the Truth - because it seems like the perfect blend to them, just enough “God” to feel good but not so much that it infringes on their pursuit of happiness.  The world has made “love” into a god, redefining who God is according to their preferred view of love, to accommodate their desires.  But Christians need to define what love is (and how to live it) based on who God is, according to what He reveals in His Word.

          Yes, God is love.  But love is not a god.

3. God promises Christians health and wealth.  Name and claim whatever you want.

          God never promises us health and wealth, or that we’ll get what we want, or even that life will be “fair.”  In fact, Christians are warned that we’ll face hardships, trials, and persecution.  James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

          Though all things will be healed and made right again in eternity, it’s not guaranteed to happen in this lifetime.  We will face just as much heartache, trial, and trouble as everyone else.  Because the world is fallen.  But thankfully, we have the Lord to help us through it, to give us help and healing, and to work all things out for good someday.

          Romans 5:3-5, 8:28: “… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us… And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him…”  2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  Phil. 4:19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."  (Needs.  Not wants.  And God gets to decide what we really need and what we don’t.  A very hard thing for us to accept, isn’t it?)

          If your church teaches that God wants to give you everything you want, or that there’s a formula to prayer/faith and that if you can just get it right then you can manipulate God into giving you whatever you ask for, they are lying.  Get out of there fast and find a church that teaches you the truth.

          [What are some wrong expectations/views we might have of God and prayer?  What damage might they cause to our faith when things don’t turn out the way we expected?  How can we protect ourselves against this?  How can we keep our faith solid when the setbacks, disappointments, and heartbreaks happen?  What is faith?]

          Of course, we should pray about all of our concerns and desires (Phil. 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”), but we have to give Him the right to answer the way He knows is best (Matthew 26:39: “Yet not as I will, but as you will”).

          Faith is not about believing that God will give you what you want if you just pray right or obey right.  (Some of the godliest people in the Bible faced very “unfair” circumstances.)  Faith is believing that even if God doesn’t give you what you want that He’s got His reasons, that He will help you through it, and that He can be trusted to turn it into something good, to work it all out for the best, eternally, even if it hurts and doesn’t make sense to you now.  If you follow God only when you’re getting what you want, then you’re not really following God at all.  If you think faith is a tool to manipulate God to give you what you want, if you think God’s goal is to make your life more enjoyable, then you don’t understand faith or God.  (If this is the case, ask God to give you a better, more accurate understanding of Him and of faith.  Of what it means to follow Him.  But be prepared: it might hurt.)

          As Christians, we should be working for God’s kingdom and glory, not for our own happiness.  Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness …”  1 Cor. 10:31: “… whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  We should work not for earthly pleasures but for heavenly treasures, for eternal rewards that we won’t even be able to enjoy this side of eternity.  Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in a steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

          This life isn’t really about this life at all.  It’s just the staging ground for the life to come.  2 Cor. 1:3-4,4:8-9,16-18: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God…. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

          [What happens when the Christian who worked for earthly pleasures instead of heavenly treasures finally meets God in the end?   They lose everything they worked for.  So “… each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day [of judgement] will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping the flames.” 1 Cor. 3:10-15]

4. “The most important commandment is ‘love others.’ That’s all we have to do.”

          It is a common idea nowadays that “Love others” is the greatest commandment.  In fact, many people excuse all sins because “it’s not loving to call anything sin or to hold up the Bible as The Truth or to say that Jesus is the only way to heaven.”  To them, it’s much more loving to say that all behavior is okay and that everyone is going to heaven, to gloss over all sins with “we’re not supposed to judge others, but just to love them.”

          Yes, loving others is crucial.  But the greatest commandment is not “Love others.”  It’s “Love God.”  “‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’  ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this... ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart… soul…mind…and strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Mark 12:28-31)  If we put God first, we’ll base our love for others on His Word, His Truth.  But if we put others first, we’ll define God and His Truth according to how we want to relate to others.  A huge mistake!  For we may be “loving” others right into hell.

          And to be clear, loving God doesn’t mean having warm feelings towards Him or just believing in Him.  It means obeying Him, living as He wants you to.  1 John 5:3: “This is love for God: to obey his commands...”  John 14:15,23,24,15:10: “If you love me, you will obey what I command … If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching... He who does not love me will not obey my teaching… If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

          And, contrary to popular belief: Yes, Christians are to judge.  When Jesus says "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2), He wasn't saying to not call sin "sin" or to not stand up for His Truth.  He was saying to not unfairly condemn others, to not look down on them as if you are better than them or as if you don't have your own sins, to not be hypocritical.  Because the very next thing He says is to take the plank out of your own eye before helping your brother get the speck out of his.  He's saying that we cannot point fingers at others while ignoring our sins.  In order to best help others overcome their sins, we have to first deal with ours.  We have to first get right with the Lord before we can help others do it.

          But nowhere in the Bible does it say to overlook sin, to support everyone's right to do whatever they want, to keep quiet about immorality, to make everyone feel happy or feel good about themselves, to never give them the bad news about where their choices are leading them, etc.  Christians are, in fact, supposed to judge ... according to God's Word.  We ourselves are judged according to God's standards, and that is the measure we use to judge everything else by.  But who and what and how should we judge?

          A. We are to judge what’s true, according to the Bible.  This would include what people teach others about the Bible, God, Jesus, right and wrong, good and evil, sin, etc.  We are to correctly handle the Word, correctly teach others what it says, and stand up for the Bible's Truth.  We cannot stand by when people alter the Word to please the world.  2 Tim. 2:15,3:16: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth… All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  Hebrews 5:14: "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."  1 John 4:1: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

         We are not to be mean or hateful or condemning to those outside the church, for God is their judge, not us (1 Cor. 5:12-13: "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? ... God will judge those outside.").  But we are to judge the messages they share, the ways they corrupt and compromise God's Word and standards.  We need to stand by the truth that there is "right and wrong," that there are choices that lead to death and choices that lead to life, according to Scripture.  We don't have to force God's Truth on them or force them to see things our way, but we need to stand up for God's Truth when needed, to help others find their way out of moral decay, to find their way to Jesus.  Matt. 5:16: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  1 Peter 3:15-16: “… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

          And we need to be careful to keep the world’s immorality, corruption, and compromise from contaminating the Church.  Matt. 10:16: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”  Eph. 5:11: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”  Romans 12:1-2: “Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”  2 Peter 3:11-14: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?  You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming… So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.”  (How can we do this?  How can we be in the world without being of the world?)

           Love the people of the world, but do not excuse or embrace the sin of world.  Gently and lovingly stand by Truth, sharing it with them in the hopes of drawing them to Christ.  The world may call this "judging," but we call it "sharing the good news of Jesus to help others find their way out of the fire."

          B.  We are to judge those inside the Church, meaning that we have the responsibility to point out and deal with sin and error in other Christians when we see it.  But only in a spirit of love and reconciliation, and only after dealing with our own hearts and sins (the "plank in the eye"), so that we are not hypocrites.  How can we help others get right with the Lord if we ourselves aren't right with the Lord?

          We cannot let sin and error reign in the body of Christ because it will weaken the Church and compromise our witness, our understanding of biblical truth, and our mission.  It will bring shame to the Lord and to God's glory.  Gal. 6:1: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."  1 Cor. 5:11-13: "... you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?... 'Expel the immoral brother from among you.'"

          The world tries to stop us from preaching the Word and sharing Truth by calling it "judging," by using "judge not" against us.  (Satan's best tactic is to use the Bible to undermine the Bible, using God's Word against God.)  But God tells us to preach the Word and share the Truth, to correct, rebuke, and encourage.  With love and gentleness.  "Don't judge" was never meant to be "don't call sin what it is."  It was meant to be "Don't be a hypocrite or act like you're God or condemn anyone (because that's God's job), but try to lovingly lead them to the truth."  Fellow Christians, don't be shamed into silence with "don't judge."  When needed, stand up for biblical Truth, lovingly and graciously, but firmly and unapologetically.  We’ll be held accountable someday for if we do or if we don’t.

5. “All faiths lead to the same place.” Or “All good people go to heaven.”

          1 John 2:22: “Who is the liar?  It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.”

          Luke 12:9: “But he who disowns me [Jesus] before men will be disowned before the angels of God.”

          2 Thess. 1:8: “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

          Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!”

          Acts 16:30-31: “‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’  They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved ...’”

          John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

          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.”

          Scripture couldn’t be clearer.  There is no room for misunderstanding.

6. “There is no hell.”  Or “A loving God would never send people to hell.”  Or “In eternity, everyone will eventually accept Jesus and get into heaven.”

          To deny hell, eternal separation from God, is to ignore clear biblical teaching.

          Rev. 20:15,21:8: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire… But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.”

          2 Thess. 1:9-10: “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord…”

          Matthew 25:41,46: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ... Then they will go to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

          Eternal fire.  Eternal punishment.  Second death.  Everlasting destruction.  Sounds hell-ish and final to me.  I see nothing to indicate that this is a temporary separation or that we get extra chances after death to make up our minds.  Hebrews 9:27: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment.”  We have this lifetime to make up our minds, and then we die and face judgment, leading to either eternal life (for those who believe in Jesus) or eternal death/hell (for those who reject Him).

         And notice that hell wasn’t made for man, but for the devil and fallen angels (demons).  God didn’t intend us to go to hell.  He doesn’t want us to go to hell.  He doesn’t “send” us to hell.  But He does reluctantly allow us to follow the devil there, if we choose to reject Jesus’s sacrificial death for us.  

          2 Thess. 2:10: “... They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”  

          Rom. 11:20,23: “... They were broken off because of unbelief... And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in...”  

          John 3:18: “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.”  

          Rom. 2:5: “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself ...”

          They didn’t perish because God didn’t love them or give them a chance to be saved or because He deliberately “sent” them to hell.  They perished because they refused to believe the truth, because they rejected Jesus and God’s offer of salvation.  And according to the concordance (a “dictionary” of the Bible’s original words, the original Hebrew or Greek), “perish” means that something is utterly destroyed or ruined, but not as in “annihilation or ceasing to exist.”  It’s about a conscious, eternal loss of well-being, eternal spiritual ruin.  Once again, sounds like hell to me.

          In His love and mercy, God “commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30), in order to save us all, because He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).  God truly wants all of us to be saved, and so He offers salvation to us all as a gift: Eph. 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”  Eternal life is a gift, but He doesn’t force it on us.  He leaves the choice up to us to accept it or reject it.  And so if people end up in hell (eternal, conscious ruin), it’s not because He didn’t love them or try to save them, but it’s because they chose it.  He tries to save us all from hell.  He died to save us all from hell.  But He lets us choose: Accept Him or reject Him.  And He let us face the consequence of our choice.

          Joshua 24:15: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Support for Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible

Although almost every other major religion out there acknowledges that Jesus really did live, there are still people who insist He is a fairy tale, like a mythological legend from ancient history.  Or they believe that He was a real man but never claimed to be God, that His followers made it up after He died.  And many believe that the Bible, though a good book, was written just from men’s minds and wasn’t really God-inspired.

When trying to reason with people like this, many Christians quote Bible verses to try to win the argument, thinking it should convince everyone of God’s Truth.  But since many people, including atheists, don’t believe the Bible is true, they don’t want to hear the Bible being used to try to prove the validity of the Bible.  That’s “circular reasoning,” using the Bible to validate the Bible.  This is why it’s important to have sources outside the Bible that confirm that Jesus really did live and that Scripture is really reliable.

And if Scripture proves to be reliable, then we need to take Jesus’s claims that He is the Christ, God in the flesh and the only way to heaven, much more seriously.  Because, yes, He Himself did claim these things.  We can choose to not believe Him, but we cannot deny that He claimed it.

John 10:30,14:6-9: “I and the Father are one… I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him… Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

In Matthew 16:15-17, Jesus asks Simon Peter “Who do you say I am?”  And Simon Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus doesn’t deny it but confirms it.  “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

In John 8:56-58, Jesus claims that He saw Abraham, who lived many centuries ago.  And when the Jews question Him (“You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!”), He replies, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!”  This is Jesus clearly calling Himself God because that’s the name God gave Himself when He sent Moses to free the Israelites from Egypt.  Exodus 3:13-14: Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  [I AM indicates the eternalness of God.  He’s not I WAS or I WILL BE.  He is always I AM because He is God.]

The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying.  They knew He was claiming to be God when He called Himself “I AM” and when He said that He and the Father are one.  They knew He was claiming to be God when He exercised His right to forgive sins in Mark 2:5-7: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’  Now some of the teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”

And because the Jews knew what He was claiming, they tried to kill Him. John 8:59: “At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple ground.”  John 10:31-33: “Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’  ‘We are not stoning you for any of these,’ replied the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’”

In fact, at the trial before Jesus’s crucifixion, he makes the clearest claim yet.  Mark 14:61-64: “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’  “I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’  The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’  They all condemned him as worthy of death.”  And the Jews finally got their way.  They couldn’t kill Him the other times they tried, but they did get Him crucified.  Because they couldn’t believe He was telling the truth, that He really is God.

Like I said, you don’t have to believe Him either, but you do have to admit that He claimed to be God.  And if the Bible proves to be a reliable document, you need to answer this question for yourself: “Who do you say Jesus is: the Christ (God in the flesh, the only way to heaven) or just a man, a blasphemer?”  (And if you decide He’s just a man, a blasphemer, what happens if you’re wrong?)

So what I am going to do here is give a quick overview of some extra-biblical support for the existence of Jesus and the validity of the Bible.  This is my paraphrase of information mostly from Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ (he was an investigative journalist who set out to disprove the resurrection of Jesus, but ended up believing in it instead) and Josh McDowell’s book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict (he was a pre-law student who didn’t want anything to do with Jesus or “religion,” as he called it, but he was challenged by some Christians to research the resurrection to see if it was true, and he accepted the challenge, confident he would swiftly and surely disprove it.  He even dropped out of college for a time to do research in the great libraries of Europe.  But as result, he came to believe in the resurrection instead and that Jesus is who He said He is.).

Historical support for Jesus from outside the Bible:

There are several first- and second-century historians who refer to Jesus.

          Josephus (born a few years after Jesus’s death) refers to both James and Jesus in one of his writings, The Antiquities.  In it, he talks about how the high priest had James killed and how Jesus was known as “the Christ.”

          Tacitus was a first-century Roman historian who refers to Nero’s persecution of Christians and the death of Jesus (whom he called Christus, from whom Christians get their name) at the hands of Pontius Pilate.

          Another first-century historian, Thallus, refers to the day that the earth went dark (when Jesus was crucified and darkness came over the land), calling it an eclipse (although it doesn’t fit the timing of any predicted natural eclipse).  This event is also recorded by Phlegon (a Greek author), who adds that there was also a big earthquake at the same time.

          Pliny the Younger, a Roman, refers to the Christians whom he had arrested and executed.  (I am paraphrasing what Pliny wrote around 111 A.D.  It’s referenced in Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ.)  He talks about how dedicated they were to their belief in Jesus Christ (treating Him as their God) and how they shared Bible verses with each other and vowed to abstain from sins.  Then he talks about how he was sure that they must be guilty of something more evil than that, that they must be hiding something darker.  This is why he had them tortured, to get them to confess that there’s something else going on, that they’re lying or hiding something (but they weren’t).

          Suetonius, a Roman historian from 120 A.D., refers to “Chrestus” (another spelling of Christus, another name for Christ) and how He caused the Jews to create disturbances.

          Lucian of Samsota was not a historian but a satirist in the second century.  He refers to Jesus’s crucifixion and calls Jesus a cult-leader.

           In addition to these early historical writers, there are early Christians from the 1^st and 2^nd century who refer to Jesus and the disciples, but whose writings were not part of the Bible.  Some of these writers even knew the people of the New Testament.

          - Ignatius knew all the apostles, was a disciple of Polycarp, was martyred for his faith

          - Polycarp was a disciple of John and was also martyred for his faith

          - Clement of Rome from 95 A.D., affirmed the validity of the Bible

          - Irenaeus was a disciple of John and was martyred for his faith

          - Papias/Eusebius (Papius got writings from John, which referred to John, Mark, Peter, Matthew, and Jesus.  And Eusebius preserved the writings.).  Etc.

          Historical Christians and non-Christians alike attest to the fact that Jesus was real.  And, as I said, so do most other religions.  So the question is not “Did Jesus live? Was He even real?”  The question is “Who was He, and was He telling the Truth?”

          Jesus was crucified because He put Himself on the same level as God.  And throughout His ministry, He said that He was the only way to God, to heaven.  And yet people who don’t want to believe that He is God try to at least say that He was a “good, wise teacher,” maybe even a “prophet.”  But what good, wise teacher would tell people that He was God and the only way to salvation, if He really wasn’t?  That’s not “good” or “wise” or “prophetic”.

          We cannot call Him a good, wise prophet if we won’t also call Him God, Savior, the Messiah.  Because if He knew that He wasn’t God but told people He was then He was a deceiving liar.  And if He didn’t know He was God but thought He was then He was a delusional schizophrenic.  The only other option is that He was telling the truth, that He told people He was God because He is God.  These are the only three options we have when figuring out who Jesus was: Liar, Schizophrenic, or truly God in the flesh.  But we cannot patronize Him by calling Him “good and wise” if we won’t also admit that He was telling the truth.  Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and decide if His words and actions are those of a liar or a crazy man.  And if they don’t seem to be either, could it be then that He is telling the truth?  And if so, can you accept it?

Support for the Validity of the Bible:

            Time Gap – The writings of other religions have a much greater gap of time between when the founder of the religion lived and when his teachings were written down, oftentimes hundreds of years.  Such as, Buddha lived in the 500s B.C., but his life and teachings weren’t written down until after Jesus’s time.  And Muhammad’s teachings of the Qur’an (Koran) were not written down until a century after his death.  And yet these writings are still considered reliable and authentic, even though they were written down long after the founders died.  But the Bible has the shortest amount of time between Jesus’s life and when the Scriptures were written down, ensuring accuracy and reliability.  The books of the New Testament were written between 40-100 A.D., within a hundred years of Jesus’s death, and many were written by the very people who knew Jesus personally.  But even Paul, who never met Jesus when He was alive on earth before His crucifixion, wrote his books within a few decades (in general) of Jesus’s death, when he could still talk to those who did know Him personally.

            Accurate Facts - Time and time again, the events, people, and places of the Bible have been proven to be accurate by archeological research, further confirming the Bible’s credibility.  For example, and briefly:

          - Various archeologists confirm that archeological research doesn’t contradict, but confirms, the Bible, calling it one of the most historically accurate records we have.

          - Evidence has been found to confirm the census that was taken in the Bible’s account of Mary and Joseph travelling back to Bethlehem to be counted.

          - Nazareth, where Jesus spent his childhood, was thought to not exist in Jesus’s day because there was no reference to it in historical records (except the Bible) until the 4^th century.  If it was only in the 4^th century, how could the Bible say Jesus lived there in the 1^st century?  But an expert in this area said that after the destruction of Jerusalem’s temple in A.D. 70, the temple priests would have been relocated.  To support this, archeologists eventually found a list of priests who were relocated, and one of them was sent to Nazareth.  (Also, Nazarene tombs with objects from the 1^st, 3^rd, or 4^th centuries have been found.)

          - Evidence continues to be found that confirms the Bible’s account of who the political leaders were back then, of people who existed, and of cities and their locations, even when it was previously thought by scientists that the Bible was wrong.

          - The court where Jesus was tried, before his crucifixion, has been found.

          - Archeologists believe they have unearthed and can now identify the “pool of Bethesda,” which is only mentioned in the New Testament and which scientists did not think really existed.  Until now.

          - There are historical references to the “eclipse” and earthquake that happened when Jesus died (Matthew 27:45,51: “From the sixth hour to the ninth hour darkness came over the land… At that moment [when Jesus died] … the earth shook and the rocks split.”).  According to science, there should have been no reason for an eclipse to happen at that time because of the location of the sun.  Yet early historian Phlegon records that, in A.D. 33, there was a great earthquake and a great eclipse which made the noontime look like night.  And 2^nd century historian Africanus refers to what an earlier historian, Thallus, wrote in A.D. 52 about an “eclipse” that happened at the time of Jesus’s death, calling it a fearful darkness, and about an earthquake that destroyed many places in Judea and other districts.  Also, geologists have found evidence in sedimentary layers around the Dead Sea of an earthquake that happened sometime between A.D. 26-36; Jesus would have been crucified around A.D. 33.

          - And even very recently (2021), scientists unearthed a city in the Jordan Valley which had been melted, destroyed by a fire so strong that it couldn’t come from any natural heat source known to man.  And so they speculate that it must’ve been an asteroid that exploded over the town, melting everything.  And they speculate that the reason no one lived there afterward was that the asteroid impact might have brought over so much salt from the nearby Dead Sea that nothing could grow.  This, they say, must be what inspired people to make up the story of Sodom in the Bible.  But I say, here's your "asteroid": "The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens.  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land." (Gen. 19:24-25)  And here's your salt: "The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur - nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it.  It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger." (Deut. 29:23)  The Bible literally gives the answer the scientists can't figure out, but instead of accepting it, they make up their own explanation and then say that the Bible story was inspired by that.  Though they have eyes, they will not see. Though they have ears, they will not hear.  (Also, ancient tablets were recently unearthed in Tell Mardikh which refer to and confirm the existence of Sodom and Gomorrah, which scientists previously considered mythological.)

          Number of Copies – The Bible has more extant manuscript copies (ancient copies of the original writings) in existence than any other historical writing, further supporting its authenticity and accuracy.  According to Josh McDowell, there are over 24,000 manuscript copies of parts of the New Testament in existence.  I’m not saying that they’ve made 24,000 copies of the New Testament on modern printers, but that they have found over 24,000 copies of sections of the New Testament which were written way back when.  And they all affirm the message and accuracy of the Bible.  The ancient writing with the second highest amount of copies is the Iliad, which has only 643 copies.  The Bible far surpasses any other historical writing when it comes to the amount of ancient copies in existence.  We can also compare the Iliad and the New Testament by the “time gap.”  The Iliad was created in 900 B.C., but the earliest copy is dated 400 B.C.  That’s a five-hundred-year gap of time between when Homer composed it and when the earliest surviving copy was written down.  And yet people accept that the earliest copy accurately reflects the original story.  However, the New Testament, as I said, was composed between 40-100 A.D. and the earliest surviving copy is dated 125 A.D., which is about an average of 55 years.

          [But what about "errors/differences" in the Bible?  Wouldn't that prove it's not reliable?  According to William Lane Craig in his article "Establishing the Gospels' Reliability" (Reasonable Faith),the Greek text of the New Testament has been so faithfully and accurately translated and passed down to us that only 1,400 words - out of its almost 138,000 - remain in doubt, whereas 99% of it is proven to be accurate and reliable.  And none of these possible "errors" affect any Christian claim or doctrine (according to Erhman and Wallace in The Reliability of the New Testament).  From other sources I've read, the "errors/differences" are almost entirely made up of spelling errors or differences like saying "he picked up the mat" instead of "he picked up his mat" (imaginary example because I can't remember the exact one).  None of these kinds of differences or errors would affect the message of the Bible.]  

          This is all evidence from outside the Bible that support its validity and reliability and the existence of Jesus.  Christianity is not a “blind faith.”  There is a lot of intelligent, scientific support for it.  And you could also go further and bring up rational arguments like these for the Bible, Jesus, and the Creation story:

          1. To discredit the resurrection, some say the disciples stole Jesus’s body from the tomb and hid it, to make it look like He rose again.  And some say He never really died on the cross but only appeared to be dead, that after the cool tomb revived Him, He rolled away the giant rock that sealed the tomb and made it past the Roman guard (after He had just been whipped to shreds, nailed to a cross, stabbed in the side, and nearly died).

          But if anyone knew that Jesus was a fake, that His body was hidden, or that He was still in a beaten-up body, it’d be the disciples.  Yet, history says that most of the disciples were martyred: Simon Peter, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot were crucified (another source says Simon may have been sawn in half), James son of Zebedee and Matthew were killed by the sword, Thomas by a spear, and Thaddaeus by arrows.  It’s reported that John was first immersed in boiling oil and, when that didn’t work, banished to an island to die (this is when he wrote Revelation).  (And the apostle Paul - who met Jesus after, not before, His resurrection - was beaten, stoned, and whipped for his belief in Jesus, and was most likely beheaded.)

          These disciples, who were previously timid, who fled in fear when Jesus was arrested, who lost hope when He died, were all martyred for their faith.  If they stole His body or knew He didn’t rise again, you’d think at least one of them would recant and say, “No, it’s just a joke.  We stole His body.  Don’t kill me.”  But none did.  They all chose to cling to Jesus till the end, to go boldly to their deaths for their faith in Him.  Why?

          Because it wasn’t a lie.  Because they knew better than anyone that He died and rose again, proving Himself to be God, the Messiah, their Savior.  They knew the miracles He did, the compassionate heart He had, the eternal life He offered.  They knew He died and rose again, because He appeared to them after He died.  And so they knew that to deny Him would be to deny the Truth, to deny God, to lose their eternal souls in hell.  And so they chose death instead of denying Jesus.

          1 Corinthians 15: “For what I [Paul] received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living… Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also…”  Paul’s writing this when many eyewitnesses were still alive.  If he was lying about this story, hundreds of people could’ve refuted him.  But there is no evidence that anyone did.  Why?  Because they knew Paul was telling the truth.  They saw Jesus too.  How many people today would be willing to die for a lie?  Would you?  The fact that all these disciples were willing to die for Him greatly affirms the truth that Jesus was worth dying for, that He is who He said He is.

        John 20:29-31: “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’  [That would be us, those who don’t get to see Jesus in person after He rose again but who still believe in Him anyway.]  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

          2.  But maybe they didn’t know it was a lie, someone might ask.  Maybe they really thought Jesus rose again because the tomb was empty somehow.

          Well, then, what happened to Jesus’s body?  There’s no record that Jesus was revived in the tomb, escaped past the Roman guard, and then appeared to people in a beaten-up body.  If He did appear to anyone in a beaten-up body, it would’ve been the disciples, but none of them wrote about it.  Instead, they all died as martyrs saying He rose again.  The Roman soldier at the tomb, guarding it so that the disciples didn’t steal the body, wouldn’t do anything to the body because his life could be forfeited if he failed at his job.  The Jewish people, Jewish leaders, and Roman leaders had nothing to gain, only everything to lose, if Jesus went missing from the tomb, because then it would look like they were wrong and the disciples were right, that Jesus really rose from the grave like He said He would, that He really was God and that they had killed Him.

          So what happened to the body?  Whatever it was, it was enough to cause the disciples to die for their faith.  They chose to die for Jesus because they believed Jesus died for them, to save their souls.  John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  They believed He really is God and that He rose from the grave to prove it.

          But the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe.  Here’s how they handled the news that Jesus was missing from the tomb (Matthew 28:12-15): “When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ‘You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’  If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.  So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.  And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this day.”

          And remember, the disciples didn’t die for their faith just because the tomb was empty.  In fact, they were confused and distressed when they learned the tomb was empty, unsure of what happened or what to think.  But then they saw Jesus.  They saw His nail scars and where the sword pierced His side.  They talked with Him and ate with Him for 40 days.  And then they saw Him leave earth for heaven.  And that’s what convinced them.

          3.  How about the fact that the world and universe show incredible balance, complexity, and intricate design and precision?  Consider the intricate complexity of the eye, the brain, and reproductive systems.  Can something this complex really be accidental?

          If evolution was true, then as animals changed from one kind to another, they would’ve been picked off by predators.  If an animal was both fish and bird, then they are neither a strong fish nor a strong bird.  They are freaks with deformities, making them the weakest of both species and the easiest to be hunted.  Deformed creatures don’t often live long enough to reproduce.  Females don’t choose deformed males to mate with.  And it’s unlikely they would pass their deformities on anyway.  Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” actually contradicts the idea of evolution, of one species changing to another. Plus, for evolution to be true, you need to have not only one freak that survives, but at least two that have mutated at the same rate and in the same way to make mating and reproduction possible.  A scientific improbability.

          And then there’s the fact that the earth is the perfect distance from the sun, with the perfect tilt and perfect rotation patterns/speed, for life to be possible.  If anything was different, if it was slightly closer to or farther from the sun or angled differently or rotated differently, then life wouldn’t be possible.  And the earth and moon are the perfect distance apart, with the perfect rotational pattern, to make the gravitational pull exactly what we need it to be.  There is the perfect blend of gases at the perfect amounts to support life.  Earth has the perfect atmosphere to protect us from the sun’s dangerous rays and excessive heat.  There is the right humidity level - just wet enough, just dry enough - to support human life, to prevent us from drying out or from molds, funguses, and slimes taking over.  In fact, scientists who believe in evolution even say that life is so precise, complex, and balanced that if even one tiny thing had been different way back during the evolutionary process, then life as we know it wouldn’t exist.

          Do you really think something this carefully ordered doesn’t have a Designer, a Creator, that it’s merely the result of random, accidental interactions and processes over billions of years?  Have we ever seen even one life form develop into another or grow more complex and ordered, without the help of scientists?  [Consider that Newton’s second law of thermodynamics, the Law of Increased Entropy, says that nature will inevitably tend towards disorder and deterioration over time, not towards greater order and complexity.  Therefore, if things really did evolve over billions of years, they would evolve to worse conditions that make life less complex, less possible, not better conditions that make it more complex, more possible.]

          People accuse Christians of being unreasonable because we believe in a God we can’t see.  But how much more unreasonable is it to think that all the things that make up the complex, intricate balance of life happened randomly by accidental, unthinking forces over billions of years?  It takes more “blind faith” to be an atheist or evolutionist than it takes to be a Christian.  The Bible neatly, clearly explains what the scientists can’t explain, and yet they refuse to believe: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

          Ps. 19:1-2: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”

          4.  What about all the supernatural things that we hear about, that defy logic and science, the things that make you go “hmm”?  We’ve all had or heard of those unexplained moments, those confounding experiences that defy natural explanation.  There is enough supernatural activity to know that there is something else out there, that there is more than just what can be seen.

          Keep in mind, though, that not all supernatural activity is “good” supernatural activity.  There are demons out there trying to cause trouble, to trap people.  And many supernatural things like tarot cards, fortune telling, Ouija boards, seances, etc. – especially if it “works” – are meant to ensnare you into deeper demonic things.

          The good angels don’t play those kinds of games.  Heavenly angels are helpers, messengers, and ministering spirits doing God’s work.  Ps. 91:11: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”  Heb. 1:14: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

          It’s the fallen angels – demons - who play those games, to entice or trap people.  Don’t give them any access into your life through occultic things like these (and if you already have, repent).  Demons will come in on any “welcome mat” you roll out for them, through any door you open for them.  Eph. 4:27: “… do not give the devil a foothold.”  1 Cor. 10:21: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too…”  Eph. 6:10-12: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  James 4:7: "Submit yourself, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith …”  Lev. 19:31: “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”  Deut. 18:10-12: “Let no one be found among you who … practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord…”

          And do you know what I find interesting?  That many people will believe in aliens but not in angels or demons or God or Satan.  To them, aliens are possible, but not God.  Why?  My guess is because they don’t have to bend a knee to aliens if aliens are real.

          Side note: Recently, the US government released their report on UFOs, and they concluded that UFOs are real but they haven’t yet proven the existence of aliens.  Be warned: I believe that UFOs and “aliens” will be a major End Times delusion.  I believe that after the rapture of the Church, demons may appear as “aliens,” convincing many people that it wasn’t the rapture that happened, that the Bible isn’t right, but that aliens are real and that they are the reason why many people disappeared.  This could be the delusion spoken of in 2 Thess. 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one [anti-Christ] will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”  (Another possibility is that the delusion is the lie that the anti-Christ is really God, not Jesus.  Whatever it is, God allows a lie to be spread to force people to make their decision: Will they believe the Bible or not?  Will they put their faith in God or in the anti-Christ?  And if they have chosen to reject Truth, God allows them to believe the lie, to seal their decision, their punishment.)

         Aliens and ghosts are demons in disguise.  Not all signs and “miracles” are godly.  You don’t have to agree with me, but keep it in mind as the End Times get closer.

          5.  The Bible was written by over 40 different authors, over a span of 1,500 years, and yet it has continuity in its message and has accuracy in its details, making it seem as though it was really written by one Author.  The Bible is not “one” book, but 66 books.  And these books all support and agree with each other, making it “one” book.  What are the odds that 66 books written by over 40 different authors over the course of 1,500 years (before copies were abundant and could be easily obtained) all agree and are consistent in sharing the same basic truths?  How is that possible if it wasn’t God-inspired?

          A lot of atheists and skeptics won’t believe in the Bible because of “discrepancies” or things they don’t like, such as God wiping out entire nations, innocent people.  Yet I wonder how many of them have actually read the whole Bible for themselves before forming their conclusions.  How many realize that those so-called discrepancies have really easy, reasonable explanations, proving that they aren’t really “discrepancies” at all?  How many have researched the history of these nations God wiped out, to see that these “innocent” people weren’t so innocent at all, that they were very wicked people who sacrificed children in fires to false gods, who engaged in all sorts of sexually-depraved practices in their idol worship, and who tried to spread their perversion to those around them?  How many realize that God gave them many chances repent so that He wouldn’t have to punish them?  How many realize that God doesn’t want to exercise His wrath and judgment, that He is loving, gracious, and merciful enough that He would spare entire wicked nations if just a few righteous people could be found in them?  He would have spared the whole wicked city of Sodom if only 10 righteous people could be found in it.  He’d have spared Israel from punishment if He could have found only one person who did what He wanted, one person who “stood in the gap” for the rebellious nation: Ez. 22:30-31: “‘I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.  So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them in my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.”  God wanted one righteous man to plead for His mercy, but He found no one who could or would do this.  So He dealt with Israel out of His wrath instead.  (Who has God asked you to “stand in the gap” for?)

          Do any of these atheists or skeptics want to know this?  Do they want to know the truth?  Or do they just want “reasonable-sounding” excuses for not believing?  Will those excuses hold up when they stand before God in the end?

          Romans 1:18-21: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

          6. Scientists believe that millions of years is needed to explain the many layers of sediment seen in the earth’s crust.  However, when the Mount St. Helen’s volcano blew in 1980, 25 feet of stratified deposit was laid down in just 3 hours.  And since then, in just a few decades, deposits of up to 600 feet thick have been laid down in various spots.  Also, as a result of a mud flow after a 1982 eruption of St. Helens, a “Little Grand Canyon,” about 100 feet deep and a bit wider, opened up rapidly.  As a result of this one volcano, geological events occurred that scientists would say normally take many, many years to form.  And speaking of canyons, several years ago a record amount of rain fell on a New Zealand town in one weekend, opening up a huge, deep cavity in the earth which looked amazingly like a mini-Grand Canyon (which scientists say was formed by a little water and millions of years).

          But if all this could happen after one weekend of rain in New Zealand and after eruptions from one volcano in the 1980’s, I wonder what might happen after this: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life ... all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."  (Gen. 7:11-12)  If a giant, canyon-like sinkhole could open up overnight after a weekend of rain, if a canyon could open up in one day of mud-flow from a volcano, if 25 feet of deposit could be laid down in 3 hours after one explosion, then it’s totally possible that the catastrophic events of the worldwide flood explain the existence of so many things that supposedly took “millions of years” to form [and things such as marine fossils being found on mountaintops, and fossils of whole trees being found standing up vertically through many layers of sediment (if those layers took centuries to form, the tree would have decayed before it could be preserved), and the fossils of fish eating other fish (a fish who’s about to die wouldn’t be eating, so for fossils like this to be found, something dramatic and “unnatural” must have happened quickly to interrupt their eating and to preserve them in mud before they died).]  Maybe "a little water and millions of years” is really just "massive springs bursting through the earth's surface and 40 days of rain and flooding”.

          There’s even an article in Newsweek (“The Universe Should Not Actually Exist, CERN Scientists Discover,” 10/25/17) where scientists working at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) said that the universe should not exist according to natural laws, that there’s a symmetry in nature that shouldn’t be possible.  Well, if it’s not possible for it to exist by natural laws, then maybe it exists because of supernatural laws!  Because God created it.  Because He is real and the Bible is true. I think it takes more faith to believe all this happened accidentally than to believe in God.

          7.  And then there are the biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled, such as these ones fulfilled by Jesus: The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), to a virgin (Is. 7:14).  He’d be a descendant of Isaac (Gen. 21:12), Jacob (Num. 24:17), from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), and from the family of Jesse (Is 11:1), through his youngest son, David (Ps. 89:3-4, Jer. 23:5).  He’d be betrayed by a friend He shared bread with (Ps. 41:9, many of David’s words about himself in the Psalms foreshadow Jesus) for 30 pieces of silver that would be used to buy a potter’s field (Zec. 11:12-13).  His disciples would scatter (Zec. 13:7, which happened at Jesus’s trial).  He’d be silent before His accusers (Is. 53:7).  He’d be pierced (Ps. 22:16, Is. 53:5, Zec. 12:10), be given vinegar when thirsty (Ps. 69:21) and be killed among wicked men but buried in a rich man’s tomb (Is. 53:9).  His bones would not be broken (Ps. 34:20, it was common to break the legs of crucified men so that they couldn’t hold themselves up anymore and they died quicker, but when the soldiers saw Jesus was already dead, they didn’t bother to break His legs).  And the soldiers would divide up His clothes between them by gambling for them (Ps. 22:18).  And this is just a sample.

          (From Josh McDowell…) According to a professor whose stats were confirmed by the American Scientific Affiliation, the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.  It would be the same odds as this: Imagine covering Texas in silver dollars, 2 feet deep, with one coin marked with an X, blended in randomly.  Then as you randomly walk across Texas blindfolded, you randomly stop once and reach down without looking and grab a coin.  The chances that you grabbed the coin with the X are the same as one man fulfilling just 8 prophecies.  Basically impossible … unless the Bible is true.

          And if the Bible is correct about the prophecies that have been fulfilled, we can trust that it’s correct about the ones that will be fulfilled, such as about the rapture, the tribulation, the judgment seat of God, heaven and hell, etc.:

          1 Cor. 15:51-52: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

          1 Thess. 4:15-17: “… we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

          1 Thess. 5:2-3: “… the day of the Lord [which I think starts with the rapture] will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

         Rev. 3:10 (I think it’s about true believers who’ll be raptured): “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial [the tribulation] that is going to come upon the whole earth the test those who live on the earth.”

          In the end, believers will spend eternity with the Lord: Acts 16:31: “… Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved …”  And they won’t be judged for their sins because they accepted Jesus’s payment for their sins, but they will be judged by and rewarded according to what they did for the Lord: 1 Cor. 3:13-15 “[the believer’s work] will be shown for what it is, because the Day of judgement will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping the flames.”

          But unbelievers who rejected Jesus’s sacrifice for them and the eternal life He offers will be judged according to their choices and sins.  “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead [unbelievers] were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:11-15)  And after facing judgment, they will hear God tell them “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

          These days, everyone can see the prophetic pieces of the End Time puzzle rapidly falling into place (all because of one virus): the beginnings of a world-wide government, a cash-less society, a Jewish peace treaty, the Mark of the Beast (“And he causeth all … to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (666),” Rev. 13:16-17, KJV), wars and rumors of wars, potential famine (from worker shortages, supply problems, locust plagues), etc.  And the Jews have been ramping up preparations for a new temple and the religious rituals that go with it.  And I even think the increasing evidence of UFO’s is because Satan can see that time is short, and he’s getting his deceptions in place. The pieces are falling into place everywhere, and quickly.  No one will be able to say “I had no warning.”

          If you don’t see the warning signs, it’s because you don’t want to.

          All of this is just a bit to help you see that there is enough evidence to support the Bible and Jesus’s life and resurrection, enough to change the minds of an investigative journalist and a pre-law student, enough to prove it makes sense, it’s reasonable, it’s true.

Christianity: How I would explain the Gospel and salvation:

John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God so loved the world.  He didn’t just love the world; He so loved the world.  He so loved the world that He (Jesus) would die in our place before He would miss out on an eternal relationship with us.  He knew that we would disappoint Him and hurt Him and fail Him, but He still so wanted a relationship with us that He made a way.  He knew that there would be many, many people that would reject His gift of love and salvation, but an eternity spent with those who would choose Him was worth the price of dying on the cross.  That is some amazing love!

Let me ask you something: If you were to die today or if Jesus came back today, would you be ready?  Seriously.  This life as we know it isn't going to go on forever.  And we are not invincible.  People die every day, in every kind of way.  Are you ready to face eternity, whatever comes the moment after you take your last breath?  Have you figured out who Jesus is and why He matters so much?

Because this will be what matters most the moment after you die.  Actually, it's what matters most in this lifetime, too, because it greatly affects what happens the moment after you die.

[Okay, before we go on, let me give you the short version of this:

Ultimately, there are only two choices: God's Team and Not God's Team (not official names, just a good word-picture).  We are all on one team or the other; there is no other option or middle ground.  And we are all born on Not God's Team, separated from Him because of sin.  And if we do not make a conscious, deliberate decision to join God's Team - by repenting of our sins, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, accepting His payment for our sins - we remain on and will eventually die on Not God's Team, separated from God forever.  If we reject His payment for our sins, then we are essentially choosing to pay the penalty ourselves, which is eternal death, eternal separation from God.  Hell!

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)

“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 3:17-18)

“… But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:5)

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out …” (Acts 3:19)

“That if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9,13)

God is doing all He can to call us to Him, to warn us of hell, to reach down and pull us off of the Not God's Team.  And His gift of forgiveness, salvation, eternal life is free and readily available to anyone who wants it.  But the choice is ultimately ours ... to accept Him or reject Him.  To grab His hand or slap it away.  To let Jesus’s death pay the penalty for our sin or to pay it ourselves.  And we will get what we want in the end: An eternal life with Him or an eternal life without Him.  Heaven or hell.  It's our choice.

If you don't want to read this long post but already know you want to join God's Team - embracing Jesus as your Lord and Savior, accepting His death in your place, reaching out and grabbing God’s free gift of forgiveness, salvation, eternal life – then tell God this in prayer.  Use your own words, or something like this:

"God, I believe in You.  I confess that I am a sinner.  I believe that Jesus died for my sins so that I could be forgiven and have eternal life in heaven.  And I accept Your forgiveness right now.  Thank You for sending Jesus to die for me.  Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your free gift of eternal life.  I choose Jesus as my Lord and Savior right now and ask You to help me grow in faith and to live the rest of my days for You.  In Jesus’s name, I pray.  Amen"

It doesn’t have to be fancy or long.  It just has to be real.  God knows your heart, and He responds to anyone who honestly reaches for Him.

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  (James 4:8)]

Okay, now onto the long version ...

Let’s start with a question: What’s the difference between having a “relationship with Jesus” and “religion”?  I believe that confusing these two things has prevented a lot of people from having the kind of relationship with Him that we were really meant to have.  So let me clearly say this: A relationship with Jesus is not the same thing as “religion.”

Religion is when God has your mind, but a saving relationship with Jesus is when God has your heart.

Religion is “Man’s efforts to get to God,” following all sorts of rules or traditions to try to score enough points with God, to be “good enough” that we earn our way into heaven.  But these are our attempts to get to God.  And they won’t work.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9 (emphasis added).  Salvation, which is the “gift” in this verse (not faith, see this post), is God’s gift to us.  It is a free gift that can only be humbly accepted; it can never be earned with our good works (because if it could, it wouldn't be a gift anymore).  

Trying to earn salvation, to work our way to God, is “religion.”  But biblical Christianity is all about God’s efforts to get to man.  He made salvation possible by sending Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins.  He calls each of us to believe in Him.  He shows us enough of Himself in creation that we can all know He is real.  He has done all He can to show us the truth and draw us to Him.  A relationship with Him is only possible because He reaches out to us.  Because He made a way for us to get into heaven that isn’t left up to chance or our own efforts.  He has provided a sure way, instead of leaving us to wring our hands and wonder if we’ve been “good enough.”

And all we have to do is believe.

“Good Enough” and “The Red Button”

You know, I have to ask:  What kind of God would He be if He allowed something as important as our eternity to be determined by a vague definition of “good enough”?  What kind of God would He be if He made us anxiously wonder if we made it into heaven or not, not knowing until we die?  I can’t think of a crueler cosmic joke.  That would not be a good, loving, trustworthy God.  And yet, for some reason, humans seem to want that.  We would rather try to work our way to heaven by being "good enough" than to simply accept God’s sure, easy way.  Why is that?

I wonder if it has to do with two things: our desire to be our own “master,” and our need to be in control, to feel like we are doing something to get what we want.

We don’t want to be accountable to God or to live for Someone Else.  We want to live for ourselves, to live the way we want, and yet still feel like we can get into heaven.  So “being good enough” sounds good enough to us.  Because then as long as we live as decent people and make sure the good outweighs the really bad, we should be able to get into heaven without having to make Jesus our Lord.  Right?

And we like the idea of working our way to heaven with our good behavior because we feel like we are doing something, having some control over the results.  We don’t like to leave things up to other people, even God.  We think, "It can’t be as simple as just making a decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, can it?  It’s got to be more involved than that, right?  We’ve got to earn our way, don’t we?"

It would be like someone telling us that all we have to do is push a red button and then we will get eternal peace.  And we go, “That’s it?  Just push this red button and then we’ll have eternal peace?  That’s too easy!?!  It doesn’t seem right.  We have to do something to get eternal peace.  We have to work hard at it.  Not just push a button.”  And so we never do push the button because we just don’t believe it works that way.

Well, God did provide a red button, so to speak.  We cannot work our way to heaven or earn our way to heaven.  But if we will trust Him and just push the button, we can be sure that our eternal resting place will be with Him in heaven.  Because it’s not about being “good enough”; it’s about accepting what He’s already done for us and the gifts He’s made available to us.  It’s that simple!

All of history has been about God’s attempt to reach out to us.  And it will ultimately end with us getting what we want: an eternity with Him or an eternity without Him.

Adam and Eve and the Fall of Mankind

In the beginning, God created us because He wanted a close, genuine relationship with us.  And Adam and Eve had this with Him in the Garden of Eden.  And it could have remained that way if they had obeyed God’s one, simple command to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God knew that if they did eat from it, they would introduce severe, heartbreaking consequences.  He wanted to spare them the knowledge of evil.  He wanted to spare them the consequences that come with evil.  And He wanted to be close to them.  And so that is why He clearly warned them not to do it.  But they did it anyway.  They chose to disobey, and they ate from the forbidden tree.  Now before this, they were unaware of evil.  They only knew good.  But by their sin, they became aware of evil and let it loose in the world.  And as a consequence, they introduced pain, disorder, and death into the human race.

[But why did God even allow the temptation in the first place, you may ask?  Because if people weren’t able to choose to disobey and reject God, then they wouldn’t be able to choose to obey and accept God.  And God doesn’t want robots who are forced to love Him.  He wants people who want to be with Him.  And in order for people to voluntarily love Him, He had to allow people to reject Him, to hate Him.  Isn’t that what we all want when it comes to love - to know that someone loves us because they want to, not because they have to?]

Death is part of the consequence of and punishment for mankind’s rebellion.  But it is also an act of mercy, in a way.  Because if mankind were allowed to eat from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, to gain eternal life after introducing evil into the world, we would forever be under the influence of and in the presence of evil, never again able to get back a perfect relationship with God or to enjoy life without evil’s influence.  And therefore, we would never really rest from pain.  But through our physical death, we have a chance to leave this sin-filled life behind us and to enter again into the kind of eternity that we were meant to have.  If we choose an eternity with God.

"Choose!"

And that’s the most important truth we could share:  We choose where we spend eternity!  And we only have this lifetime to make that choice.  And as I said earlier, there are only two options: God’s Team and Not God’s Team.  (Not official names.)

Because of the fall, we are all born on Not God’s Team.  And we will stay there unless and until we deliberately choose to join God’s Team.  We cannot accidentally end up on God’s Team.  Nor do we end up there by default; it has to be a deliberate, conscious choice.  And we cannot earn our way onto God’s Team.  There is no mysterious “good enough” scoreboard in heaven, where we get in as long as the good outweighs the bad.  When we stand before God, it will be “I chose Jesus as my Lord and Savior” or “I didn’t.”  It’s clear-cut and sure.  It’s that simple!

Of course, we can deliberately choose to stay on Not God’s Team if we want to, by refusing God and His offer of salvation.  And there are plenty of people who consciously reject Him and serve their own gods: nature, false gods, themselves, etc.  And that is their choice.  But I fear that far more people will end up in hell not by choice, but “accidentally.”  Because they ignored the truth about God and decided to not make a decision about Him.  And they thought that it would still be okay, that they would end up in heaven by default because they didn’t deliberately reject God.  These are the people who say, “I hope I’ve been good enough to get into heaven” or “Sure, I’m spiritual; I believe in a God out there somewhere.”  But they ignore what the Bible says about the only way to salvation.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12.  And why is Jesus the only one who can save us?  Because no one else gave His life up to take our death sentence for us.)

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6)

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed…. For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”  (Romans 2:5-8)

Not making a choice about God is still not choosing God’s Team.  Not accepting the truth is still rejecting the truth.  And that automatically keeps us on Not God’s Team, the team we start out on and will die on if we don’t accept God’s way of getting off that team: repenting of our sins and believing in Him.

I think of life as a raging river headed towards deadly waterfalls (hell, eternal separation from God).  And we’re all floating down this river while we are alive on earth, headed to destruction, with no ability to get out of it on our own.  But all along the way, God reaches down His hand to try to pull us out.  He pleads with us to grab His hand.  He sends warnings about what’s up ahead.  He doesn’t want us to die in the waterfall.  But … He won’t force us to heed the warnings or grab His hand.  He’s decided to give us the right to accept Him or reject Him.  He does all He can to save us, but He leaves the final choice up to us.  And if we refuse His hand and ignore His warnings, then we stay in the river and inevitably go over the waterfall and die.

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  (Joshua 24:15)

The choice is ours: Grab His hand or stay in the deadly river!

"But how could a loving God send people to hell?"

This question stops a lot of people from believing in Him.  Because “How could God do that!?!”

But the truth is this: God doesn’t “send” anyone to hell.  He doesn’t threaten us with hell, as in “If you’re not good enough, you’re going to hell,” as if we’re all on a big bus headed to heaven, but if we’re not “good enough” then He will kick us off and put us on the bus to hell.

No!  We’re all on a big bus to hell, and God is trying to get us all off that bus and onto the bus to heaven.  God doesn’t threaten us with hell; He warns us of hell, as in “The bus you’re on is headed to hell!  Please, get off that bus and get on the bus to heaven, accepting the way of salvation I made possible for you.”

He wants all people to come to Him.  He waits patiently over the course of history for as many people as possible to come to Him, pursuing them for years and years.  And He doesn’t give up on us, because He wants us with Him in eternity.  He is far more concerned with where we’re going than where we’ve been, which is why He is so ready and willing to forgive (Forgiven by Crowder), no matter what we’ve done in our past, if we will just come to Him as we are (Come As You Are by Crowder).  

God doesn’t “send” us to hell ... but He does reluctantly allow us to go to hell by rejecting Him.  (And as a matter of fact, according to Matthew 25:41, hell was created for Satan and the angels who rebelled against God.  It was not made for humans.  It's we humans who choose to follow Satan there by rejecting God and His free gift of salvation.)

“Where God’s Justice and Love Meet”

When Adam and Eve disobeyed, they introduced sin into mankind and the world.  And because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin.  Because He is righteous and full of justice, there had to be a penalty for disobedience.  He couldn’t just ignore it or excuse it.  There had to be a penalty.  We would expect any judge worth his position to demand justice, the payment of the penalty for crimes committed.  What would we think of a judge who turned a blind eye to crime, who allowed criminals to get away with breaking the law?  That wouldn’t be right, and the judges wouldn’t be trustworthy.  (And could you imagine the horrible condition society would be in if we were allowed to get away with crime, if there were never penalties for breaking the law!)  There has to be a penalty that fits the crime.  This is what justice is.

Well, the penalty for mankind’s sin was separation from God and, at death, eternal separation.  Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden and separated from God’s presence.  And this “separation” is passed down to all of us because sin is in the human race.  We are all born on that path of separation, the path to hell.  And if we die while still on it, we will remain eternally separated from God.

But here’s the thing, none of our attempts to get off that path on our own will work.  That’s the bad news.

But this is the good news: God made a way.  We can choose to get off that path of separation and into an eternal relationship with God (heaven) because of what He has already done for us.  Yes, God is holy and just (and so there has to be a penalty for sin), but God is also love.  And in His love, He couldn’t bear to have us separated from Him.  He so desires a relationship with us that He made a way for us to spend eternity with Him … by paying the penalty Himself (Secret Ambition by Michael W. Smith).

The payment required was death (a physical as well as “spiritual death,” an eternal life apart from Him).  And so Jesus (God the Son, who took on human flesh) came down here and died a physical death He didn’t deserve so that He could pay the price for our sins, so that we could trade in eternal death for eternal life.  This enormous act of love (Oh, What Love by City Harmonic) met the requirements of justice.  The price has been paid!  We don’t have to pay it on our own, unless we choose to by rejecting the payment Jesus made on our behalf.

The greatest question Jesus asks: “Who do you say I am?”

And this is another crucial difference between religion/false religion and Christianity: Jesus Christ.  What we decide about Jesus Christ determines if we have religion/false religion or Biblical Christianity.

When it comes to religion (or a generalized spirituality), God can be anything to anyone.  He can be found in the trees, in Mother Nature, in unity, in music, etc.  He can be Buddha, the universe, a cow, or even ourselves.  He can be whatever the person wants Him to be.  And we can get to God in any number of ways: meditation, drugs, good works, giving money, being sincere in whatever faith we have, sex, beating our bodies, etc.

And that is what makes it “religion” or “false religion.”

“Religion” doesn’t have to acknowledge Jesus as God, Lord, and Savior.  “Religion” doesn’t have to claim that Jesus is the only way.  “Religion” doesn’t have to believe that we cannot work our way to heaven, no matter how good we are.  “Religion” can be whatever tickles our fancy or makes us feel good about ourselves and life.  What a mess!

I know people want to believe that all religions are right and that everyone goes to heaven as long as they are sincere in their faith.  But the truth is that not all religions can be right, not when they all teach different things about who God is and how we get to heaven and what heaven is.  If each religion has a different map . . . written by different people . . . with different directions . . . to different destinations, they cannot all be essentially the same thing.  They can all be wrong, but they cannot all be right!  This “all religions are the same thing” idea is a very sweet-sounding, “love everybody,” naïve way to convince oneself that you don’t have to make a decision about it.  That no matter what you believe, it’ll all be okay.

But – like it or not - it does matter what you believe.  Tremendously!  Eternally!  “Religion” will not save.  It is only Jesus who saves.  And He doesn’t save just because He was “a good person, a good teacher.”  He saves because He is God.  Whatever you do, do not say that He was a “good, wise person” unless you also claim that He is God.  Because if He isn’t God, then He was either a liar (deliberately deceiving people into following Him and believing He was God) or He was a lunatic (mistakenly believing He himself was God).

When deciding who Jesus was, you only have three options: liar, lunatic, or Lord.  (And don't think that Christianity is a "blind faith" where you have to suspend all reason and commonsense.  It's actually a very reasonable, fact-based faith, backed up by history and science.)  

In Christianity, Jesus is God, and it is by His sacrificial death – and only by His sacrificial death - that we are saved.  Because Jesus wasn’t just another man.  He is part of the trilogy that makes up the one God of the Bible.  Jesus is God in the flesh, the Holy Spirit is God in spirit form, and then there is God the Father.  But they all-together make up God, the one and only God.  (It’s a mystery, I know, but this is the way it is.)

And because of Jesus’s death - because God paid the penalty that His justice demanded - we now have the option of going to heaven.  We can accept His payment on our behalf so that we can once again have a relationship with Him.  Or we can choose to pay the penalty ourselves by ignoring Jesus, by rejecting Him and His sacrificial death, thereby remaining on that path of separation that leads to hell.

But if we want spiritual life, the only option God has given is to allow Jesus’s death to pay the price for our sins.  And all it takes on our parts is a decision to believe that Jesus alone made the way for us.  It is choosing to make Him Lord and Savior of our lives (Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle).

This is the “red button” that will bring us eternal peace.

He has closed 99% of the gap between us and Him.  He has done 99% of the work to make salvation possible.  And all we have to do is turn toward Him, open our heart to Him, and believe (We Believe by Newsboys).  It's that simple and sure.

Romans 10:9 tells us what’s required to restore our relationship with God.  “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

And I have to say, that’s a wonderful bargain: Letting Jesus’s death do all the work of getting us into heaven ... and all we have to do is choose it, like accepting a gift.  How merciful!  It is so much easier than we make it out to be with our “good enough” scoreboard and our efforts to earn heaven.  (As a Christian, “being good and living right” isn’t something we do to get into heaven.  But it is how we will want to live after we accept Jesus, living out our thankfulness, our love, and our desire to honor Him.)

This life is not all there is.  And this life isn’t really about this life at all.  Our time on earth is our deciding ground.  It is the time for God to build His eternal kingdom, His eternal Family.  But the choice is ours.  We can reject Him.  We can ignore Him.  Or we can choose Him!  We can choose to believe (Manifesto by City Harmonic) that the Bible is true and that Jesus is who He says He is.  We can choose eternal life, because of what He has already done for us!

Not ready yet?

Maybe you are not ready yet to accept Jesus as Lord.  Maybe you don’t really believe yet.  But maybe you want to believe, or you want to want to believe.  These are good, important steps.  He will meet you wherever you are at.  If you sincerely reach out to Him and open the door to Him - even a little bit - the truth will begin to be revealed to you.  And the more you seek, the more you find.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:13)

But it has to be a sincere, genuine attempt to find Him.  If you are only pretending to look for Him, hoping you will find nothing, then you will get what you are looking for: Nothing!

But if you really want to believe (or want to want to believe), then the best thing you can do is tell Him this.  Simply say out loud something like, “God, I don’t know if I really believe in You.  But I want to know if You are really there.  Please, show me if You are real.”  Pray this sincerely and often, and then keep your eyes open.  And when the desire to give up comes, push past it and pray this prayer again.  And then see what happens.  Keep your eyes open and you will begin to find Him.

“But I still have doubts.  So how can I be a Christian?” you might be asking.  (Welcome to the club!)  The way I see it is that we can choose to believe in God and Jesus ... even with doubts.  In fact, the only way that we can believe in God and Jesus is while we still have doubts.  Because whether we admit it or not, we all have doubts and unanswered questions all the time, about different things.  (We are just more unaware of them when life is going well.)

It would be wonderful if we had all the answers, of course.  But then where would faith come in?  Hebrews 11:1,6: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see... And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

God says that faith is absolutely necessary.  This is why we have to step out in faith.  If we wait until we have no doubts, we will never believe.  But we can choose, as an act of our wills, to accept that He is telling us the Truth in the Bible, even if we don’t totally understand everything yet.

Faith isn’t saying, “Wow, I have all the answers about everything related to You, and I am totally convinced!”  

Faith is saying, “God, I don’t understand everything.  But I will choose to take You at Your Word, even though I still have doubts and questions.  Open my eyes and help me believe.”

God wants us to choose Him.  He wants us to accept Him.  And I believe He will help us find Him, if we want to find Him.  If we want to believe.  If our hearts are turned toward Him and we are looking for Him.  He isn't trying to hide from us; He actually wants to be found!  And so even if you have doubts, remember what the doubting, fearful father in Mark 9:24 cried out honestly, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"  (I think this is one of the greatest, most vulnerable, most real prayers in the Bible.)

Our part is not to climb our way to heaven; it’s simply to reach up and grab the hand He’s reaching down to us, to accept His gift of forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, turning our face toward Him and saying, “Okay, I choose You.  I want to believe.  Help me!  Give me faith!”  If we will just open the door to Him - honestly telling Him where we are in our level of faith and doubt, and asking Him to help - He will grow our faith, our understanding, and our belief in Him.  And as we walk with Him, we will learn to trust Him more and to believe in Him more.  And we will come to know that doubts and questions are a part of life and the Christian journey.  And when they come up, the best thing we can do is not feel bad about ourselves or doubt our faith or doubt God, but to take those doubts to God in prayer and ask for His help.

Remember, our feelings follow our thoughts.  Our thoughts follow where our mind goes.  And our mind goes wherever we decide to let it go.  If you will choose to put your faith in (to set your mind on) the Bible and in God, even if you don’t “feel it” yet, your feelings will eventually get in line.  And as you walk with God and dig deeper into His Word and watch Him work in your life, your faith in Him will be strengthened.  But it first takes a decision to believe, without waiting until all your doubts are gone (because that will never happen).

People who don’t want to find God won’t.  People who don’t want to believe in Him will not find “proof” of Him.

Zechariah 7:11-13: “But they refused to pay attention: stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.  They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.  So the Lord Almighty was very angry.  ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 1:18-20: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

But people who do want to believe in Him will find Him, if they have the eyes to see and ears to hear, because He will help them.  God is doing all He can to reach out to us - through nature, through His Word, through Jesus coming here in the flesh, through knocking on the door of our hearts, through implanting within us a deep sense that Someone is out there.  But He leaves how we respond up to us.

People often say things like "If God's real, why doesn't He prove that He's real?"

Well, He did ... it's called Creation.

"Oh, that's just evolution.  It's nature," they respond.  "If He's really real, why doesn't He send us a clear message, in black and white?"

He did ... it's called the Bible.

"No, that was just written by men.  It's an interesting old book.  Nothing more.  But if He was really, really real, why doesn't He come down here and show Himself to us physically?  Then we'll believe!"

He did ... and His name is Jesus.  And they still don't believe.

No one will be able to say, “But I didn’t know God was real.”  Because God says that we will not have any excuses when we stand before Him and He asks, “Why didn’t you believe in Me?”

Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

He will hold us all accountable for the choice we make (or don’t make).  And in the end, He will give us what we asked for.  If we ask Him to pay the penalty for our sins, He will do it.  (He already has!)  But if we ask to be left alone, He will allow it.  He won’t like it and it will grieve Him; but He allows it because He has given us the freedom to choose.

[Now, to put some people at ease, I do believe the Bible teaches that there is an age of accountability, an age when we are old enough to choose between accepting or rejecting Jesus’s sacrifice.  If a child dies before this age, they are under His grace and mercy and automatically end up with God in heaven for eternity ... because they never made it to the age where they became accountable for their choice.  But after that age (I have no idea what age that is, and it’s probably more like a “condition” than an actual number age), we are held accountable for the choice we make or don’t make.  But if you lost a baby or child, I believe that you can rest assured that they are already safe in His loving care and will be there to meet you when you get to heaven.  And this would also apply to mentally-handicapped people who never acquire the ability to make a conscious, deliberate decision about Jesus.  God does not hold people accountable for choices they are unable to make.  That would go against both His love and His justice.  See "Do Babies Go To Heaven If They Die?" and "Bible Verses that Support an Age of Accountability?"]

Making the Decision

If you want to express your belief in God, your decision to choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior, accepting His payment for your sin so that you don’t have to pay it yourself with eternal separation, it doesn’t take any real effort on your part.  It was all done by God already.  His forgiveness and grace are already available to all of us for the taking.  And all we have to do is accept them as the free gifts they are.  All it takes is a genuine desire to turn to God, opening up our hearts and hands in prayer, grabbing ahold of that amazing grace and forgiveness (Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew).

There is no magic formula for the prayer, but as I already said, if you “confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved... ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”  (Romans 10:9-10, 13)

If this is something that you want to do, here is a prayer that you can pray.  (Or use your own words, maybe something as simple as "God, I believe You.  I confess my sins to You right now.  And I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.")  It doesn’t have to be fancy; it just has to be real.

Dear God,

I admit that I am a sinner and that I have been living life apart from You.  But I don’t want to do that anymore.  I want to spend eternity with You.  And so today I am turning to You.  I am choosing to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  I believe that He came here and died for my sins, and that He rose from the dead, proving that He is God.  I ask for forgiveness for my sins, and I choose today to make Him Lord of my life.  I open up my heart to You and ask You to fill it with Your Holy Spirit, so that I can live the rest of my life for You.  Thank You for Your sacrifice for me, and thank You that because of it, I can spend eternity with You.  In Jesus’s name, I pray.  Amen

If you chose to pray this, tell someone about it.  Telling others is an outward testimony about what has gone on in your heart and it helps to cement your decision to turn to God.  And so does getting baptized.  So tell someone, get baptized, and get a Bible and start reading.  And find some other believers to fellowship with, to help you mature in the faith.  And welcome to the Family!

[And if you are not a believer and didn't pray this prayer, what are you waiting for?  Are you so sure that God isn't real (God's Not Dead by Newsboys)?  That Jesus isn't coming back like He said (People, Get Ready by Crystal Lewis)?  Are you sure enough to bet your eternal soul on it?  Don't wait too long.  Someday it will be too late (I Wish We'd All Been Ready).]