As the author of this blog, let me present some background information about myself. I do not profess to be an expert, or scholar, in the beliefs of all of the faiths in the world. Many would dispute my authority to write, on this subject, on that basis, however, one need to be such an expert. One needs simply to study the Bible extensively and believe the answer lies within the ancient texts of that document. The world is full of so called experts, who would refute what is being said. These men, while they have amassed a vast array of knowledge, and have relative expertise when compared with the average man on the street, are not really experts. Only the one true God, the creator of heaven and earth, knows all there is to know about the subject of every system of faith. The truth is, there is no such thing as a mortal expert on the world faiths, since the subject is so vast, it would be pure vanity for one to think he was such an expert. The human mind is a complex and powerful organ that is immensely capable of astounding feats. The human mind, however, can not possibly contain all there is to know about the beliefs of every faith. The choices alone are enough to boggle a single person’s mind. To be an expert on one religious system is a monumental undertaking. There is a vast array of contradictory doctrines and beliefs, in almost every belief system. My personal experience with the God of the Bible, has led me to the conclusion, that no one human can know or understand all there is to know about Him and His Holy Word. We are only able to know, what God has revealed to us from our own personal study of and relationship with, Him.
During my life, I have reviewed some of the world religions from a superficial level. I do not wish to take the time, to delve into them in great detail. I realize that this approach will open me to criticism by those who think you must be an expert on everything, in order to have complete understanding. I have found that most of them lead a person to the same god. Having taken a look at what others claim to offer, I have settled on my choice. I believe, the faith of the Bible has a superior explanation of the nature of God and man, more than any of the others.
My purpose in writing this is not to try to throw stones at other belief systems. It is simply to explain the truth I have been given. What is written here is purely from a Biblical perspective, having accepted the Word of God on it’s own merit. It is the documented Word of a Divine and Holy Spirit. The Bible as I know it, is a supernatural document. The omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of an infinite author exceeds the comprehension of the most intelligent human mind. Mortal men are created as finite beings. In other words, men, while we have what seems to us to be great power over ourselves, we are really greatly limited. The Bible teaches all wisdom and knowledge comes from the one true God. Without Him we can do nothing, yet through Him, we can do all things. If we believe that there is, in fact, a divine being that created all things, then it is reasonable to accept that he gave us a document to guide our lives and our decisions. The Bible is clearly the document.
The purpose of this blog, is to use Biblical scripture as a series of spiritual filters. As we develop certain truths from the Bible, we can see, what will pass through the spiritual filter. Those things that meet the tests, of the authority of God, will pass to the next filter. Those things that can not pass through the filter element of God’s Word, are left behind. Another way to look at it, is as a road that continually gets narrower by definition. As we define the boundaries of the road through scripture, those things that go outside the boundaries, fall into the ditch.
Mt 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Jesus used the same type of analogy in Matthew. He reiterated that, the path was narrow and the majority would be incorrect in their beliefs. He told us to seek a narrow way. I like to think of an illustration of a road that starts out wide, but narrows as it progresses along the way. The object, is to stay in the middle of the road, as far from either edge as you can get. If you get too close to the edge, then as the road narrows, you either have to correct your course, or you will fall into the ditch. On the other hand, if you always stay in the middle of the road, you can reach your destination without difficulty or danger.
Many have often wondered, why are there so many religions in the world? There are a vast number of religious movements, and among them, Why are there so many sects or divisions within each religious group? There are many teachers, each with his own ideas and particular slant on the proper interpretation their religious writings. A person who reflects on the vast number of religions, has to be overwhelmed by this huge array of choices. If there is a God why would he allow so many choices to exist? Why would God be tolerant of all of the variations? Why not just come down, and reveal to all men the one way that is correct?
On the other hand, is what many today teach, really truth? Many say, they all are valid paths to the one true God and it does not matter which path we choose. Everyone is going to heaven anyway and they all paths lead to salvation. It is just a matter of personal choice. Each of us should do what is right in his own heart or own mind and just find a way we are comfortable with.
This blog seeks to explore, both the reasons and purpose, for all of the confusion that exists in the world today, over religion, from a Biblical perspective. I realize that, taking a Biblical perspective, is not going to be popular with everyone who may read this blog. It is not my intent to please men, but rather to please God. There are many different religious documents in the world; So why do I choose the Bible? What makes me think, it is correct? I can only explain it by saying true Christianity, just like early Judaism, is an experiential religion. In other words, it is more than just philosophy or academics. When a person finds true faith, God comes down in a mighty way and really does reveal Himself to man. We see many examples of this in the Old Testament and of course He came as the Messiah in the New Testament. It is difficult to explain to someone, who, has never had this kind of experience with God. Many do not believe that, such experiences are real, or that they happen today. Yet, I can testify that God is real, and he still manifests Himself to men just as he has been doing for the last 6000 years. The real question is, do we believe? Do we know what to look for? Would we recognize Him, if we encountered Him?
One of the primary precepts of the Bible is unity. If we back away from our own individual perspective on religion, and look at the world view from a global perspective, we will see that the peoples of the earth are divided. The major sources of division in the world are along the lines of geography, language, skin color, religion, economics and political systems. If we accept the Bible as truth, in the anti-diluvial period all people were descended from Adam. The post-diluvial period all people were and are descended from Noah. Modern genetics, proves the Bible is correct in this area.
There is a false doctrine that tries to attribute the creation of three races of men to God by way of his three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Jepheth. In reality all theories about race were created in the imaginations of men. These men were misguided by the influence of the spiritual forces of the enemy. The enemy’s entire purpose is to create confusion and disunity among man kind.
Gn 9:26 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Some people say that, all black people, formerly known as the Negroid race were descended from Ham. They even go as far as misquoting the Bible by saying that the descendants of Ham were cursed, and that is why the black races were enslaved. The truth is many people have been enslaved, by others who are not like them. Noah in reality never cursed Ham, he only cursed Canaan. Ham’s other three sons Cush, Mizraim and Phut were not cursed. Canaan was the father of the Canaanites, whom Israel conquered. These false doctrines are even taught to this day.
Gn 11:1-7 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
In Genesis, God had commanded men to scatter through the earth and replenish it. What we see happening, in the rebellion against God’s command, men began to gather in Babel and develop false religion. They were trying to build themselves a monument that would reach heaven or symbolically elevate themselves to heaven. Rejecting the authority of God, they wanted to create a name for themselves. God recognizes the power of unity, so to stop them, he confounds their language. Is God against unity? No, however, God requires men to be unified with Him, according to His purpose, and not along the lines of man’s own ideas. God allows the disunity to exist as a mechanism to keep the wrong people from becoming to powerful in the earth. This is the origin of the nations of the earth and their languages.
Mt 14:22 For many are called, but few are chosen.
While unity is important to God, I am not advocating unity in the sense of today’s modern globalists. These men say the solution to all of man’s problems lies in their kind of unity. They espouse forming a single global government with one military, one economy and one religion to rule the world. A unified world religion would only be good if it were done along the lines of Biblical principles. The reality is, that because of the prophecies of the Bible, we know this will never happen. Man will form a global government that will become the seat of the “man of perdition” or what people today more commonly know as the antichrist. This seat of government will only except one form of non-exclusive state religion. This state religion will be a universal religion, like the nation of Israel, right before it fell into Babylonian captivity. Every man will do what is right in his own eyes. So can we save humanity if we unite? The answer is, all things are possible through Chirst who strengthens us. The Bible says the majority will reject the Christ and therefore it is not likely.
Mt 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
What I am about to write is going to startle and anger some people. The truth is, even though there are many systems of faith, there are really only two religions in the world. That is all there are and all there have ever been. Both are as old a man himself. We must either, unify along the lines of the doctrines of the Bible, otherwise we will find ourselves fighting against God. Jesus said it very clearly, Anyone who is not unified working for Him, is by default unified against Him. The Bible says, God is not the author of confusion, but rather a God of order. Satan, the enemy of all man kind is identified as the “author of confusion.” A person who does not follow the God of the Bible, is playing into the hands of mans mortal enemy, by scattering people away from God. That person is adding to the division that is already in the world. By default, that person’s god, regardless of what they name him or the title they put on their belief system, is the religion of the antichrist.
I Jn 2:18-22 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
By rejecting the Jesus of the Bible, we by default become part of a false world religion, working in opposition to the one true God. When we reject the Jesus of the Bible, we reject both the Father and the Son. When we accept him, we accept both the Father and the Son.
The globalists say that in order to unite along religious lines, we all need to understand that there is just one god. We need to respect all religion, as a valid path to that one god. In a sense their assertions are true. Entities within this movement view true Christianity as the enemy of global government, because it is an exclusive religion. Said another way, the precepts of Christianity, exclude from it’s ranks all of those people, who do not accept the doctrines of the Bible. That is why, certain globalists are calling for the extirpation or extermination of all religious exclusiveness. The Lord, on the other hand, is, out of Love for man, calling for all men to repent, that they might partake in His plan of eternal salvation.
II Cor 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The Bible calls Satan “the god of this world.” Satan’s goal is to get men to put anything above the one true God. If Jesus said that if we are not for him, we are against him, then by default, we become the followers of Satan. Now I am not saying that people are willingly and knowingly worshiping Satan. There is only a very small percentage of people that overtly worship Satan. What I am saying is, Since there are basically only two choices in the world, then regardless of what you call it, rejecting the God of the Bible puts us in the other category of following the “god of this world,” who is Satan. I realize, this is not a popular position with a lot of people. But if we really believe the Bible, it is easily substantiated from scripture. If we do not believe the Bible, then we are probably wasting our time reading this text, because what I am writing is from a Biblical perspective.
