Not One and the Same

Not One and the Same - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins. —John 8:24 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/not-one-and-the-same/- Listen According to the Bible, there will be a belief system during the tribulation period that everyone in the world will embrace. This, of course, will exclude those who come to faith in Christ during the Great Tribulation. Though the church will have been raptured, God will continue to be at work. Peoplewill become Christians during this time, but it will be a bleak scenario. God will raise up His representatives, two powerful witnesses. He also will send angels through the heavens who will proclaim the everlasting gospel. And He will raise up144,000 messianic Jews to take the gospel around the globe. People will come to faith, but it will be a very hard time to be a Christian, and many believers will be martyred. And the one-world religious system that most people willbuy into perhaps will be a version of the spirituality movement that we’re seeing today. For instance, in the days following 9/11, a lot of prayer services took place, including a televised interfaith service at Yankee Stadium. Bette Midler sang, and Oprah Winfrey,among others, spoke. To some degree, it’s great when we can get together and find what we agree on. And everyone should have the liberty to worship as they please. But we also must be aware that interfaith prayer services aren’t necessarily a good thing. It’s one thing to have interdenominational services in which Christians set asideminor differences as denominations to come together and worship. Harvest evangelistic events, for example, are interdenominational. We get together to proclaim the gospel and worship Jesus Christ. But interfaith services are a different matter altogether. We misrepresent and even insult God when we claim that all religions teach the same thing and that we’re all prayingto the same God. Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24 NLT). He was referring to the statement God made when He spoke to Mosesfrom the burning bush (see Exodus 3:14). Here’s what Jesus was saying: “I am equal with God. Unless you believe that I am God incarnate, that I am the Lord God, and that I am the only way to God, then you will diein your sins.” The Bible teaches that Jesus was God in human form who died for the sins of the world. It teaches that Jesus is the only way to God, that God is personal, and that He canbe known in a personal way. If we’re going to proclaim the true gospel, then we must tell people this. It’s a divisive point with some. But it is one thing that we cannot compromise on as Christians. Yet if we believe that all religions teach the same thing, then we obviously haven’t considered what they actually teach. Today many people say they don’t really believe in any one religion, and they’ve found their own faith. But this, along with the seismic shifts that are happening in our culture,is a sign of the last days.