“Jesus said, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:6

 I have heard many young people in high school and college who are confused about the different religions in the world.  Don’t all roads in the end lead to heaven if we’re good?  Does it really matter what you believe?  Doesn’t everyone have a right to believe what they want to believe and isn’t that a beautiful thing?  Why do people have to force their Christian beliefs on others?  So many religions are similar; would God pick only one and allow those people to go to heaven and all others to perish in hell?  Some have said, “The God I worship wouldn’t send people to hell, He’s too loving!”

I think the words of Jesus will shine a light on this thinking.  He said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me,” John 14:6.  If you want to go to the Father’s House (Heaven) you have to go God’s way.  It’s His house and He says who will be welcome to enter.   People can believe anything they want, but it won’t get them to heaven.

Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ.  It sets it apart from all other “religions.”  Jesus enables us to “Do to others what you would have them do to you,” Matthew 7:12.  He helps us to “Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44.  But at the same time, He warns us to “Watch out for false prophets. Who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves,” Matthew 7:15. 

So who are these “false prophets” and how will we know them?  You will know them by their “fruits,” their actions!  A good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  What are some of the results (fruit) of false religions?  The apostle Peter had some interesting things to say and you can read them in 2 Peter 2.  They use empty, boastful words, appeal to the lust of the sinful nature, they entice people by promising them freedom while themselves are slaves to depravity, and kill in the name of “God.”  For a believer, it would be better to have not known the way of righteousness, than to turn their back on the way of truth.

What does the way of Jesus promise?  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!!  He gives us the power through the Holy Spirit to live out the “fruits” of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Galatians 5:22.  He helps us to “carry each others burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” (6:2).  He helps us to “do good to others” at every opportunity!  He helps us to “forgive as God forgave us!”

I’ve been a believer for many years and I LOVE the Christian life God has given me!!  You will never meet a person who has walked with God all their life and say, “I wish I hadn’t done it!”  But there are many unbelievers who face a lost eternity and go fearfully into their reward.  You can ask any hospice nurse and they will tell you the difference between a believer’s death and an unbeliever.  Don’t be deceived by false “Christs!”

Your friend, Jean