ARE THERE OTHER ROADS TO SALVATION?

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).