I once had a conversation with a Muslim friend. He took a seat across from me as I was reading my Bible.
He said, “I know you’re going to go to Heaven. You read your Bible, you’re not like some other people who say they are Christians.” I smiled at him and said, “I also know that I’m going to Heaven, but it’s not because I read my Bible. It’s because I’ve put my full trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin. I believe that His death and resurrection cleared me before God.” He smiled. Then he asked, “What about me, do you say I’m going to Heaven?”
I answered him flatly, “No, I would not say you’re going to Heaven.” He slammed his hands on the table and pushed his chair back. He was angry. “I just told you you’re going to Heaven and you know I pray five times a day, you know I’m a good man and you tell me I will not go to Heaven??”
“Why does it matter what I say?” I asked him. Why aren’t you sure that what you’re doing is enough apart from my opinion?” I explained to him the Gospel and the importance of Who Jesus is. He could not believe that Jesus is God. Good teacher? Yes. Son of God? No. He could not accept that just believing that would save anyone. He was raised to believe that Allah requires works and humiliation. No one can just believe and go to Heaven… Allah requires works…
As long as I knew him, he didn’t believe. He maintained that we were both good people with a belief in God. We’re not the same. Biblically defined Christianity is not one belief among many. It divides, includes and excludes. It makes us strange and different. It asserts absolutes with no concessions. The time is now for Christians to embrace our peculiar tension. We must reach people with Truth not platitudes. Know Him and don’t be ashamed of Him.
This is my sincere and humble public confession. No excuses, no defense. I knew better but failed to operate accordingly.
The podcast we're dropping today was difficult to record. As I did more and more research, I realized that I was part of the problem I was gearing up to lament. Unlike most podcast episodes, I spent quite a bit of time repenting during preparation. The more I prepared, the heavier my heart felt.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 15:3). We have one Gospel, one Faith, one Body, one Bride. The identity of the True Church only comes by adherence to what we received - once. As Jude put it we have a, "common salvation". He further wrote that we are to, "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints."
I'm dismayed that I spent so many years pretending that political alliance confirmed Gospel fidelity. All faiths don't lead to Heaven and if we all basically believe the same, there is no need for schism. I wish I were looking back on working across denominations. I'm not. I'm talking about distinct theological differences that I knowingly pretended weren't there. I participated in the political ecumenical movement. I cannot mourn this enough.There is only ONE GOSPEL. I subordinated the fact of Scripture to political expediency. I repent. Jesus is worthy.
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