DO ALL RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD REACH THE SAME GOD?

by Anne Kisly

All roads do not reach the same God, nor lead to heaven!

Since religious truth claims are objective, then the belief all roads lead to heaven is contradictory. Here is why. If all roads lead to heaven then all belief systems are true.

This has three major problems:

1. If all views are true then Christianity is true. The Christian belief Jesus is the only way to heaven and all other religions are false is therefore true. This contradicts the belief all roads lead to heaven. On the other hand if the statement Jesus is the only way is false, then Christianity doesn’t lead to heaven, contradicting all roads lead to heaven.

2. All roads cannot lead to heaven because the core beliefs or the central doctrines of all worldviews contradict each other. Let’s look at a few examples.

• Christianity teaches you cannot get to heaven by doing good. Islam teaches you must do good to get to heaven. These views are contradictory and both cannot be true at the same time. 
• God is personal or God is impersonal. Christianity and Hinduism cannot both be true. 
• Christianity says Jesus bodily rose from the dead. All other religions deny this event. Both cannot be true. 

3. The “all roads lead to heaven” mantra is an exclusive belief system. It says if you believe your religion is the only way to heaven then you are wrong. That means exclusive religions like Christianity, Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormonism are wrong. In fact all worldviews (belief systems) think they are right and everyone else is wrong. Therefore, all roads don’t lead to heaven.

With that being clarified, the promotion of world unity is being religiously tested.  As Christians we realize in order for the globalists to create a world government, religion and economy, there must be some kind of united effort in order for people to embrace this united spirit.

We have heard world leaders, politicians, and the world's wealthiest elite talk about ushering in a “New World Order”.  The systems of world government are seemingly not working, and are no longer sustainable.  In order to save the world, there must be a New World Order.

This is nothing more than the repackaging of an old idea.  "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9.  Man since the beginning (Genesis 11) has strived to create a new way, a way where he tries to leave God out of it.

World Unity can never be achieved by the sinful heart of man....sorry, that is the plain truth of the matter.  Where ever fallen man's hand is involved, destruction follows.  That's because we were created for a purpose, God's purpose.  He is the Creator, we are the created.

IN THE NEWS:  Copenhagen and Melbourne: World Religion

Christian Newswire and USA Today have both reported that there will be “Big” events happening simultaneously this week. The UN Climate Conference at Copenhagen is taking place, as well as the Parliament of the World Religions in Melbourne, Australia.

According to the December 7th article from Christian Newswire -- “Interfaith meetings continue at a great rate all over the world. Many religious leaders will descend at the UN Copenhagen Climate Conference this week. Plus, the Parliament of the World Religions is occurring at the same time in Melbourne, Australia.

The underlying desire of government leaders at the Copenhagen conference is to form a world government. A treaty will most likely not be signed at this current conference; however, Christians need to wake-up to the fact that eventually this could happen.

Despite questionable climate change research, religious leaders are using the Copenhagen meeting to further their cause of promoting an eventual world religion to go along with a world government.

According to USA Today, 100 "religiously affiliated representatives" from the USA will attend the Copenhagen summit according to Tyler Edgar, assistant director for the environmental arm of the National Council of Churches. Hundreds of religious leaders are projected to attend from different parts of the world.”

Read full article here: Copenhagen and Melbourne: World Religion

It's interesting to note that the newly elected leader of the Parliament for World Religions is a Muslim. At its recent biannual meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions elected as its chair Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid. The new leader's term of office begins on 1 January 2010.

Abdul Malik Mujahid is an Imam in the Chicago Muslim community and president of Sound Vision Foundation, which produces Radio Islam, America's only daily Muslim call-in talk show.

Dr. Lesher said he considers Imam Mujahid "marvelously equipped" to serve as the board's highest elected officer. "He brings to the chair a deep commitment to his own faith tradition," he said. "The Imam has an understanding of how religion is a force in American society and also in societies throughout the world."

However, there are also “Christian” leaders who are promoting interfaith goals. Those like Rick Warren who after speaking at the July 4th Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention, simply left out telling anyone that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, yet boasts that he is reaching Muslims with the Gospel. How?  By claiming that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, a blatant apostate lie.

In a Washington Post interview; Warren was asked how "the church" could help to solve poverty. His response was to rattle off the numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the world - in that order - and make a plea that the public and private sectors take seriously "the faith sector as the third leg of the stool of successful development".

Warren consistently uses language of a religious pluralist...not a biblical Christian. He spoke of "mosques, temples and churches" as central to the life of villages in the developing world. He underscored the fact that there are huge numbers of people of faith in the world, and huge numbers of houses of worship in places where clinics, banks and schools don't exist. Those people of faith can be trained to be the arms and legs of any development plan, and those houses of worship can double as clinics, banks and schools.   Purpose driven globalism that strives for unity at any cost, even at the cost of the gospel message, and the authority and purposes of God.

This is a big deal, because it signals an important turn in the American Evangelical tradition - from viewing people of other faiths primarily as lost souls requiring conversion to viewing them as partners in the plan to make earth more humane and just. "Progressive Evangelicals" like Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren and Tony Jones, have long been involved in interfaith efforts.

Is the stage being set for the unified worship of the Antichrist?

It says in Revelation 13 that there is coming a one-world system of government, economy and religion. We identify this as the "New World Order” that so many world leaders talk about. Another term we hear frequently that means the same thing is “globalism”. Whatever you want to call it, various organizations are playing into Satan's hands. Leading the charge is the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO. Joining them are world trade organizations like the “North American Free Trade Association” (NAFTA), and many others.

Add to this the rising Ecumenical Movement - Ecumenicals and Evangelicals joining hands with Rome.

Nearly every day we read headlines that indicate the Ecumenical movement is sweeping the world. Churches and denominations that once took strong biblical positions, no longer believe what they once believed.  Rejecting the authority of God's Word has it's consequences.  When there are no absolutes, anything goes. 

Joining hands with religions that contradict the teachings of scripture is the result.  This is the coming Apostasy that scripture talks about.  They don't want God.  They don't want His word.  They want a religion they make for themselves, one without the consequence of sin.

The truth is that Christianity and false religions are like oil and water....they do not mix.  The Bible has something to say about unity,  let's look:

Philippians 2:2
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind. 

Who is Paul addressing? 

To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi.

Who are the "saints"? 

Scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ, born again Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints.

Who is a Christian?  

The word “Christian” is used three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). Followers of Jesus Christ were first called “Christians” in Antioch (Acts 11:26) because their behavior, activity, and speech were like Christ. The word “Christian” literally means, “belonging to the party of Christ” or a “follower of Christ.”

More examples:

1 Peter 3:8 - Finally, [be ye] all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, [be] pitiful, [be] courteous:

1 Corinthians 1:10 - Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

2 Corinthians 13:11 - Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Ephesians 4:1-6 - I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (Read More...)

Romans 15:6 - That ye may with one mind [and] one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:4-5 - For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: (Read More...)

More examples to read on your own:
Ephesians 4:3 ; Psalms 133:1 ; Philippians 1:27 ; Romans 12:16  ; Romans 15:5 ; Romans 14:19 ; Acts 4:32 ; John 17:11-23

The Unity the Bible teaches is the unity of Believers...the body of Christ, Born-again Christ Followers!

Does scripture call us to unity with the world? No it does not!

1 John 2:15-16 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

In the Bible, the term world can refer to the earth and physical universe (Hebrews 1:2; John 13:1), but it most often refers to the humanistic system that is at odds with God (Matthew 18:7; John 15:19; 1 John 4:5).

Yes, we are to love people, and we do that by sharing with them the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST.  Not by compromising, joining forces with religious systems that are WORLDY, opposing God, opposing the gospel, opposing the Bible, opposing Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.

How realistic is ecumenism in light of the Bible? What if a certain group embraces teachings or beliefs that contradict what Jesus said? Can we join hands in Christian unity then? Our answer is emphatically No, Not at all!

Certainly true Christian unity is a good thing – that is if the unity is based on biblical truth. However, the ecumenical movement allows for beliefs and ideas that are not scriptural. A Christianity that is not based on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not biblical Christianity.

Bible prophecy reveals the last days will be characterized by a time when a counterfeit bride will be prepared for a counterfeit Christ. Deception will take place in the name of Jesus because the truth of God’s Word will be ignored.

This is the spiritual deception that the Lord has warned us about.

See Greg Reid's article: HOW's YOUR DECEPTION DETECTOR?

Jesus said on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24) that deception would be the primary cultural sign of the last days. Even some of God’s “elect” might be deceived by false theologies. “Good would be called evil and evil good” (Isaiah 5:20). Men would substitute light for darkness and darkness for light. Apostasy would consume churches and denominations that were once solid.

If all roads lead to God, then why would God send His Son to be the Savior of the world. Why would Jesus have to die on a cross for the redemption of sin laden men? Why would Jesus make the following claims?

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24

“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

If no one can come to the Father except through Jesus, then ALL other religious systems fall short. For a non Christian, the authenticity of Christ’s claims are a legitimate issue, however, any attempt to reconcile them with other truth claims is dishonest and logically impossible.

The truth claims of Christianity can not be reconciled with other religions or philosophies which do not place Jesus Christ, and specifically his life, death and resurrection as the Chief Cornerstone of their belief system. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Sikhism, to name a few world religions, all provide competing truth statements regarding God and man, and the relationship between the two. Christianity claims that Jesus of Christ is the exclusive bridge to God:

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5

The Bible says, “without the shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26

Scripture tells us that the carnal mind is at enmity against God. We need to recognize that the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is our final authority, and we must hold fast to the truth of its teachings:

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.… And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." (1 John 4:10,14)

It’s time to ask the question: Whose report will you believe? Whose voice are you listening to? Who will you trust?  Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Trust God's Word, and obey Him.

Dear friends, do not be deceived by the WORLD’S SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT AND RELIGIONS; or the False Unity and Peace that they promise.

Cleave to the Word of God, for in it you will find the LIGHT and LIFE and TRUTH. Through Jesus alone we have an everlasting hope and home!