Several months ago, Michael A. Walrond Jr. of Harlem's
10,000-member First Corinthian Baptist
Church claimed that there are many routes to salvation:
·
"… the key is you believe in God. And
whatever your path is to God I celebrate that. Personally, I celebrate that."
https://www.christianpost.com/news/why-jesus-is-no-longer-only-way-for-many-american-christians-223601/
Walrond also called the belief in “hell” as a form of
insanity. Walrond is not alone. Many are parroting this same message with
confidence as if some new evidence was uncovered that there are many ways to
get saved. However, it is not a matter of new evidence but fashion, which the
West now finds very appealing.
In fact, it is a mindless fashion. It doesn’t ask “Which God
must you follow to be saved?” It refuses to distinguish between a god of Jihad,
the mindless god of Spinoza, or any god of our own choice. Nor does it even ask
“What must I do for this God in order to be saved.” In our anti-thinking
culture, it is enough to say “God.”
More importantly, there are many Biblical reasons to reject Walrond’s
conclusion:
·
If there
are many ways and gods, then Jesus died in vain. He had even asked the Father
to find another way and to spare Him from the Cross. Evidently, there wasn’t
another way, contrary to Walrond’s claim.
·
Faith in
the One true God and His Gospel are Biblical necessities. Paul wrote: “As
we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9 ESV).
This is hardly an endorsement of other ways. Accordingly, Walrond stands
accused.
·
Jesus
declared that He alone is the Savior: “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. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be
saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:7-9; Luke 21:8).
·
The Bible
offers no other means of salvation: “This Jesus is the stone that was
rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is
salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12). To proclaim another means of
salvation violates Scripture and offends the God who saves at great expense to
Himself.
·
Apart
from faith in Christ, there could be no hope of salvation: “remember that
you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of
Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12; 1 Thess. 4:19).
·
Jesus did
not give the Samaritans any hope in salvation through their religion: “You
worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from
the Jews” (John 4:24). However, Walrond claims that there is salvation through
other religions.
·
Even the
Jewish leadership couldn’t be saved unless they believed in Jesus: “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; 3:36; 14:6; 1 John 5:12;). This puts the
kibosh on the false hope that people can experience the fruit of the Cross
without faith in Jesus.
·
The
Hebrew Scriptures never acknowledged the legitimacy of any other God. The
First Commandment warned Israel: “You shall have no other gods besides me” (Deuteronomy
5:7).
·
Apart
from the God of the Bible, there could be no hope of salvation: “Thus says
the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and
shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the
wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the
LORD, whose trust is the LORD’” (Jeremiah 17:5-7).
·
The gods
of the nations were unable to save: “Assemble yourselves and come; draw
near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry
about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save”
(Isaiah 45:20). Never does the Bible suggest that there is salvation through
any other god.
·
To
forsake Yahweh was to surrender any hope of salvation: “O LORD, the hope of
Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you
shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of
living water” (Jeremiah 17:13). Evidently, there was no other god apart from Yahweh
who could save.
·
It is
impossible to please God apart from trusting in His dying for our sins on the
Cross. Good deeds cannot earn anything good from God: “For by works of the
law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes
knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
·
Nor will
the goodness of our heart save us: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one
understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have
become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)
Why are there pastors preaching another means of salvation?
Such encouragement doesn’t come from the Bible. Neither does it come from our
observations or experiences. Instead, our experiences inform us of our
continual struggle against feelings of guilt and shame, which indicate our need
for the Savior Jesus (Romans 1:32; 2:14-16).
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