CROSS OF CHRIST FAITH MINISTRY

Is There more than One way to God?

By Frances Swaggart“For God so loved the world that Hegave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should notperish, but have Everlasting Life” (Jn. 3:16). God’s Word tells us that without theshedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22). Fallenhumanity’s only choice then, is find blood that is pure, untainted bysin, and, thereby, able to take our place in death. Thank the Lord,that Blood has been provided! We must ever let it be known that it wasthe Lord Jesus Christ who was the Only One Worthy, the Only One whoseBlood can wash clean the souls of men! Death was the price for sin, and it was Jesus, Hallelujah, whopaid this price and died in the place of those who would come toHim! “For the wages of sin is death; but the Gift of God is EternalLife through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Jesus is withoutquestion the One and Only Way to God! Revelation 13:8 says that Jesuswas the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. None can berescued from Hell who refuse the Blood of God’s Only Son. CHRIST ALONE! The reason human beings experience asense of distance or disconnect with God is because of our sin. God’sHoliness prevents Him from fellowshipping with unrighteousness. Yousee, man cannot save himself, because all men have inherited a sinnature. Neither can one man die for another. Not even the death of aninnocent animal is enough. In the Old Testament, the Lord institutedthe animal sacrifices, but this only served as a temporary covering forsin until Christ would completely take sin away. “For it is notpossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins”(Heb 10:4). Yet, even in this temporary situation, God always only hadone specific place, one Tabernacle, and/or one Brazen Altar in which Hewould accept the sacrifices. His Conditions were designed to typify theSacrifice of Christ which was to come. Some depraved individualsthroughout history even tried sacrificing babies upon evil heathenaltars in a desperate attempt to atone for sin. But, Christ Alone wasspotless, making Him the only suitable Sacrifice for our sin. EternalLife and Salvation is only available to those who identify with Hissubstitutionary Death at Calvary! “Therefore we are buried with Him bybaptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead bythe Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness oflife” (Rom. 6:4). JESUS, THE ONLY WAY TO GOD Tragically, however, we have many inboth the church and the world today who are teaching that there is morethan one way to God. These say that as long as you sincerely pursuegoodness in your life and follow your conscience to the best of yourability, whatever path you take will ultimately lead you to God andbring you to Heaven one day. These individuals could make no greatermistake! It may be hard in this modern age, with all our creaturecomforts, entertainments, and distractions to comprehend the direconsequences of sin. Yet, it is the actual reason our physical bodiesdie, and spiritually-speaking we are already “. . . dead in trespassesand sins” (Eph. 2:1). But, unlike the Jews, we do not have to watch thefires consume the flesh of the animal sacrifices. Nor do we have tophysically apply the blood of an innocent lamb across the doorposts ofour homes to escape an Angel of Death like the Jews did in Egypt (Ex.,Chpt. 12). And, we did not see God strike dead the priests who offeredup “strange fire” to Him (Lev.10:1-2), meaning their offering failed totypify Christ’s Sacrifice. The Lord allowed such vivid events, however,to try to show man the spiritual magnitude that Christ’s Death on theCross would have. It was, in fact, the Only Way God could have everreached us! A DANGEROUS DIRECTION Sadly, one of most outspokenproponents that Jesus is not the Only Way to God is OprahWinfrey. Although raised Baptist, she has come to embrace an entirelydifferent and dangerous spirituality. This is not only sad for the sakeof Oprah’s soul, but also for the souls of the many she is now leadingastray. Several years ago, on her own program, Oprah emphaticallystated that, “there couldn’t possibly be just one way!” Here is theresulting dialogue when a woman in the audience reminded her of Jesus. Oprah (speaking to the woman in theaudience): “Do you think that if you are somewhere on the planet andyou never hear the name of Jesus, but yet you live with a loving heart,you lived as Jesus would have had you to live, you lived for the samepurpose that Jesus came to the planet to teach us all, but you are insome remote part of the earth and you never heard the name of Jesus,you cannot get to Heaven, you think?!” Woman: “God knows the heart.”Oprah: “Does God care about your heart or does God care whether you call His Son Jesus?”Woman: “Jesus cannot come back until that Gospel is preached in the four corners of          this earth, so, you know, figure it out.”Oprah:            “Ok, I can’t get into a religious argument with you.” What a sarcastic statement Oprah ends this conversation with, as if she had not been having a religious discussion all along!1 WITHOUT EXCUSE Thank God, we still have a few braveChristians in this world. I’m sure this lady in the audience had noidea how far-reaching her defense of Jesus would be that day. Andthough this lady was right, in that the Gospel will be preached to thefour corners of the Earth, according to Scripture, it is also true thateven if someone does not hear the Name of Jesus, they still standbefore God without excuse!  “For the invisible things of Him from thecreation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the thingsthat are made, even His Eternal Power and Godhead; so that they arewithout excuse” (Rom. 1:20). “Behold, the former things are come topass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell youof them” (Isa. 42:9). God does not fail to make Himself known tous. This lady was also correct in that God knows our hearts. If ourheart is truly seeking Him and is repentant of sin, then it is the jobof the Holy Spirit to lead us to Christ and His Cross! The Holy Spirit,who is God, will never fail to lead us to Jesus! “Howbeit when He, theSpirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for Heshall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall Hespeak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me(Christ): for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. Allthings that the Father has are Mine: therefore said I, that He shalltake of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (Jn. 16:13-15). Christiansshould never apologize for their Faith in the Glorious Gospel of ourLord! God is Just, and He will always do what is fair and right in thelife of every person on the Planet! DIFFERENT ROUTES? In an October 26, 2004 ABC Newsinterview with Charles Gibson, President George Bush responds to thequestion of whether or not Christians and Muslims worship the same God: “I think we do. We have differentroutes of getting to the Almighty . . . But I want you to understand, Iwant your listeners to understand, I don’t get to decide who goes toHeaven. The Almighty God decides who goes to Heaven and I am on mypersonal walk.” President Bush, who has professed tobe a Born-Again Christian, also made this heretical statement in aninterview on Al Arabiya television: “I believe in an almighty God, and Ibelieve that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or anyother religion, prays to the same God . . . I believe there is auniversal God. I believe the God that the Muslim prays to is the sameGod that I pray to. After all, we all came from Abraham. I believe inthat universality.”2 Let’s now look right within theprofessing Christian Church itself. Here is a television dialoguebetween Billy Graham and Robert Schuller on May 31, 1998 (as reportedin the May-June 1997, Foundation magazine): Schuller:         Tell me, what do you think is the future of Christianity?Graham:         Well,Christianity and being a true believer, you know, I think there’s theBody of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around theworld or outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that lovesChrist, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not,they’re members of the Body of Christ . . . And that’s what God isdoing today, He’s calling people out of the world for His name, whetherthey come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or theChristian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of theBody of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not evenknow the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they needsomething that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light thatthey have, and I think that they are saved, and that they’re going tobe with us in Heaven.Schuller: Well, what I hearyou saying, that it’s possible for Jesus Christ to come into humanhearts and soul and life, even if they’ve been born in darkness andhave never had exposure to the Bible. Is that a correct interpretationof what you’re saying?Graham: Yes, it is, because Ibelieve that. I’ve met people in various parts of the world in tribalsituations, that they have never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible,and never heard of Jesus, but they’ve believed in their hearts thatthere was a God, and they’ve tried to live a life that was quite apartfrom the surrounding community in which they lived.Schuller: This is fantastic! I’m so thrilled to hear you say that! There’s a wideness in God’s mercy!Graham: There is. There definitely is. Actually, the Roman Catholicuniversal catechism, page 224; paragraph 847 says almost exactly thesame thing: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know theGospel of Christ or his church, but who nevertheless seek God with asincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his willas they know it through the dictates of their conscience, those too mayachieve eternal salvation.”3 This is also very similar to Oprah’sresponse to the woman in her audience that if a person tries to begood, sincere, and loving, they can make it to Heaven withoutChrist. But again, no amount of good works can atone for sin! It tookthe Death of a Perfect Sacrifice! In a June 16, 2005 CNN interview with Larry King, Billy Graham made these statements: King:   “But what about thosefaiths, the Mormons and the others that you mentioned, believe inChrist. They believe they will meet Christ. What about those like theJews, the Muslims, who don’t believe they. . . .”Graham: “That’s in God’s hands. I can’t be the judge.”King: “You don’t judge them?”Graham: “No.”King:   “How do you feel. . . .”Graham: “. . . going to Hell and all that.”King:   “How do you feel whenyou see a lot of these strong Christian leaders go on television andsay, you are condemned, you will live in Hell if you do not acceptJesus Christ, and they are forceful and judgmental?”Graham:  “Well, they have aright to say that, and they are true to a certain extent, but I don’t-- that’s not my calling. My calling is to preach the love of God andthe forgiveness of God and the fact that He does forgive us. That’swhat the cross is all about, what the resurrection is all about, that’sthe Gospel. And you can get off on all kinds of different side trends,and in my earlier ministry, I did the same, but as I got older, I guessI became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving. . . .” ONE NAME ONLY! This is quite shocking, because theBible makes it completely clear that Salvation comes by One Nameonly! Matthew 7:14 says, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is theway, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” Acts 4:12says, “Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none othername under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” In Acts16:30-31, a prison guard asks Paul and Silas this question when he seesthat the Power of God had broken their prison bands: “. . . Sirs, whatmust I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,and you shall be saved, and your house.” The list of Scriptures go onand on: “He who has the Son has Life; and he who has not the Son of Godhas not Life” (I Jn. 5:12). “Jesus said unto him, I am the Way, theTruth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me” (Jn.14:6). “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say untoyou, I am the Door of the Sheep. All who ever came before Me arethieves and robbers: but the Sheep did not hear them.  I am theDoor: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be Saved, and shall go in andout, and find pasture” (Jn. 10:7-9). We hope that these confusingstatements made by Billy Graham in recent years are due to some of themedical complications he has experienced, because in Graham’s earlyministry, he clearly preached that Jesus was the only way! However, wemust warn those who would take his recent statements to heart and headdown the path of apostasy as a result of their confidence in Graham. SIN! What so many of these leaders havedone, is avoid the subject of sin altogether or somehow redefine it sothat the solution can be something other than Christ. In “Self-Esteem,The New Reformation,” Robert Schuller wrote, “Salvation is defined asrescue from shame to glory. It is salvation from guilt to pride, fromfear to love, from distrust to faith, from hypocrisy to honesty . . .So lack of trust or a lack of self-worth is the central core ofsin.”4 Schuller’s statement here sounds very similar to what Oprahdescribed in Marianne Williamson’s book, “A Return To Love.” Shedescribed how New Age guru, Williamson, spoke of salvation as choosingto move in the direction of love (light) rather than moving in thedirection of fear (darkness).5 Again, man cannot choose Salvationthrough correct action; it took the Blood of the Lamb! By completelydismissing their need for a Savior, these leaders dismiss Jesus as theOnly Way to God. Lord, help us all to recognize our need for the SavingBlood of Jesus!  1         

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/oprah-fool.htm     

www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin409.htm

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/graham/general.htp      (http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/3435/By_Brannon_Howse 

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/oprah-fool.htm