Bethel

I encountered a Muslim man one evening as I taught a Bible study in Fiji. He was an older gentleman with a neatly trimmed beard and was full of questions and ideas about God and truth. He was a kindly and respectful gentleman who had many questions, while being absolutely certain of his own faith. He fully believed that Islam was true and the only way to God. You have perhaps encountered similar people who were adherents of a non-Christian religion.

What are we to make of such a person? Will God honor their sincerity and heartfelt efforts? Are there different ways of gaining heaven and eternal life?

In logic there is what is called the law of non-contradiction. Simply stated, two contradictory statements can’t both be true. If the claims of either Islam or Buddhism are true, all other religions are false.

Sincerity of conviction has nothing to do with reality or with truth. Just because we want something to be true and right, does not make it so.

Satan is a deceiver and he seeks to deceive many through these contradictory religions. He is a liar, and he presents that which is destructive and harmful as being good and beneficial. Billions of people are comforted by such religions thinking they are serving and pleasing God, when in reality they are embracing a lie that is taking them to hell.

Why would Satan do this? Why would he foster and encourage religion and the worship of a god of any kind? One reason might be that there is a God shaped vacuum in everyone’s heart. There is some knowledge of God and of sin (Romans 1). There is an understanding within everyone’s heart that something must be done to get right with God and the false religions of the world are Satan’s strategy to allay these fears and to comfort sinners, even as they continue down the road to perdition.

As Christians, we have the truth of God’s revealed Word. We have the only answer to the problem of sin—the Gospel, which we must not keep it hidden. Let us not fear shining the Gospel light in the world’s spiritual darkness, and let us never fear those who have embraced Satan’s lies. All non-Christian religions are from the pit and destructive to the souls of their adherents who are in mortal danger and in desperate need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone is the power of God to salvation, to everyone who believes.