MICHAEL A. WALROND AND THE MULTIPLE WAYS TO THE FATHER

Michael A. Walrond Jr. leads a 10,000-member Church in Harlem. He claims that the belief that Jesus is the only way to Heaven is "insanity."

·       There was a time when you would see people in the pulpit say, “well, if you don't believe in Jesus you going to Hell.” That's insanity in many ways because that is not what Jesus even believes. And so the key is you believe in God. And whatever your path is to God I celebrate that. Personally I celebrate that…we have enough in this world that divides us we need to find those things that bring us together. And if God cannot bring us closer together then something is wrong, not with God but in how we think we know God and understand God. https://www.christianpost.com/news/belief-jesus-is-only-way-to-heaven-is-insanity-megachurch-pastor-michael-a-walrond-jr-says-221123/?utm_source=newsletter

Are there many ways to God? Jesus doesn’t give us the slightest hint of this:

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

·       I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

Jesus called those who claimed that they had another way of salvation “robbers”:

·       “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber…So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.” (John 10:1, 7-8)

Jesus was not like Walrond. He did not “celebrate” multiple ways to the Father. Nor did Jesus celebrate finding “those things that bring us together.” Instead, Jesus highlighted the distinction between His disciples and those of the world:

·       And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given…This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (Matthew 13:11-13)

·       “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:18-20)

Walrond claims that there is something the matter with our faith if God cannot bring us together. However, Jesus taught that there is an absolute and eternal distinction between two groups of people – saved and unsaved:

·       “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Nevertheless, we are to love the people of this world, and this doesn’t depend upon finding unity with the world:

·       “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

Where did Walrond get his convictions? It certainly wasn’t from the Bible. However, these convictions do sell in our religiously plural and multicultural society. Besides, if there are multiple ways to be saved, then Jesus died in vain.