Not All Roads Lead to Heaven- Satan’s Deception
This idea has been circulating my brain for as long as I can remember. Why are there so many different faiths..? Why are there so many different religions? Are there saved people in all religions…will people go to heaven from all types of denominations? Whether it is; Baptists, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic, Mormon, etc….?
Well, to fully answer this question we must first discuss the problem that’s at hand.
I remember a long time ago I was talking to someone, and I asked..? Do you think as a Mormon you will inherit the same kingdom as I will, are we going to go to the same heaven?
He answered; “I honestly believe that all religions have saved people…I think in every culture you will run into people that have a good understanding of who God is and they will inherit Gods kingdom..”
Is this statement true, could there be many different roads to heaven..? Could we be a Jehovah’s Witness and inherit Gods kingdom? Or a Mormon and meet Jesus at the pearly white gates?
There are 4 main view points in our culture, and I want to address those to help you better grasp the complexity of this question.
The first ideology that our society has adopted is Universalism. This idea believes that everyone, regardless of his or her belief, will be accepted by God for eternity. This view affirms that all people will ultimately be saved whether it be Muslims, Christians, atheists, or Buddhists…
The second Ideology is Pluralism, which restricts salvation to only religious backgrounds- regardless of what this religion may be. This idea states- all religions are equally valid, unlike universalism, Pluralism believes that you actually have to pursue a religion to be saved, and all religions have saved people.
The third ideology is Inclusivism, which believes that Jesus’s death on the cross was the price paid for all the sins of the world, and you do not have to have a personal relationship with God to be saved. Inclusivism believes that many religions are calling Jesus by the wrong name, yet this does not exclude them from true salvation.
The fourth and final view point is Exclusivism, which believes salvation is limited to those who exercise personal faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. Unlike, Universalism, Pluralism, and Inclusivism- Exclusivism believes that most people will be condemned to eternity of hell. They also believe that hell will not have many people that were very devote followers of other religions. Exclusivism basically means what it suggests. To exclude, to reject all other beliefs other than Jesus’s Gospel.
There are many verses in the Bible that support these claims, and essentially that puts me into the category of Exclusivist.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die…(John 11:25)
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
These are just the few of many, that suggest we must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for our faith to be valid, for us to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
Jesus made it very clear that there is only one way to heaven and He is the way. Jesus is the only way to the father.
So why are there so many different perspectives..? Well, that’s simple. Its because Satan does a good job deceiving people. Through the thousands of years of our humanity, Satan has changed his strategy, and if you are a business major like I am, you would know that strategy is most of the battle in targeting the consumer. Satan has changed his strategy to cater to the different generations.
For instance, roughly 300 years ago, telling people that God didn’t exist was Satan’s new strategy. During the enlightenment period, people began to worship their minds, they disregarded anything that suggested supernatural phenomena and argued validity based on facts. They argued that unless there is clear evidence the claims are void. Claims must have evidence and unless you can prove without a reasonable doubt, the idea of God and Jesus is just a theory. The tactic that was applied here by Satan himself was reasoning- Just like the serpent in the garden questioned Gods truth, so did people influenced by Satan’s strategy.
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”…(Genesis 3:4)
Was Satan right..? Well, he wasn’t wrong, he knew that they wouldn’t die physically but die Spiritually, and their connection with God would be broken. So he questioned the validity of Gods statement. He tried to reason with Eve, based of the sovereignty of Gods statement. Would God truly kill you…? Isn’t he a loving God, why would he condemn anyone to hell…? Does this sound familiar?
Many people in our society have been brainwashed. They have adopted the new way of thinking- the way that will ultimately not get you to heaven.
Satan’s new strategy is- you are saved, continue to live how you live and question nothing, for if you question you are questioning God and you will be condemned for your curiosity. Or God saves all people, all religions have very spiritual people that will get to heaven one day….These are all lies. They are sugar coated strategies that undermine Gods ultimate plan for us as his children.
…And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’…(Luke 13:24).
Because we are Gods creation and we have the desire to connect with our creator, Satan realizes this and tries his best to prevent people from legitimately connecting with God through faith in Jesus Christ. So therefore he offers thousands of alternative roads that falsely promise to lead to God.
If you were stranded in the mountains in the middle of the night looking for a way to safety, a single light that illuminated the path to the highway would be helpful. But thousands of lights would be confusing, especially if nine hundred and ninety-nine of them led you over a cliff (Dr. Robert Jeffress).
There are many that disguise themselves as servants of righteousness-
-Like the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, who claimed to have received a divine revelation from the angel of Moroni.
-The prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, who also claimed that an angel spoke to him and he knows the ultimate truth, and who is considered to be more righteous than Jesus himself.
-Or the Pope at the Vatican, who is wrapped in beautiful clerical robes, who claims that faith in Christ is important yet not sufficient enough to obtain forgiveness of sin.
-The preacher of the mega church who preaches; all people that are sincere in other faiths will inherit Gods kingdom as well.
These are all the lights that are drawing people to the cliff, and sadly most of these people do not even know it.
Even Oprah, the famous influential celebrity of our era said;
” One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there is only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God.”
Of course people would be confused….
Or the hate preachers standing on the corners condemning people to hell if they don’t repent, meanwhile giving people no desire to even wanna hear what they have to say.
Out society is extremely convoluted with so much so called “truth” that people no longer know what to believe. Satan even goes as far as telling people that sin will not keep you out of heaven…you can be homosexual and still be Christian, you can have premarital sex and still be Christian, these are all lies, generated to steal, kill and deceive the masses.
Satan has been at war with Christianity for thousands of years, that will not stop until the end of time, and until Jesus comes for his 2nd coming.
We are to be careful what we take in as ultimate truth. The way I see it is if it doesn’t withstand Gods word than it isn’t truth. If it is Biblical than it is written in stone, and isn’t negotiable.
Being conservative has become so scarce because our new generations have adopted the free-way of thinking. The mentality is- everything is okay. We can do anything this world does as long as we believe God is real. Even Satan believes in God that doesn’t mean he will escape his judgement simply by doing so, we must remember that this applies to us too. We are to live in him, and he must dwell in our heart for us to truly inherit the Kingdom of heaven.
You cannot be an adulterer and inherit the kingdom. You cannot be a homosexual and inherit the kingdom. You cannot be a Muslim and inherit the kingdom. Its as simple as that. Jesus Christ is the only way. Not Joseph smith, or Muhammad, or mother Mary, or Confucius, or the hundreds of others trying to take away from the glory of Christ.
AMEN
