YOU CAN'T HAVE THE FATHER WITHOUT THE SON

Excerpted from Tom McKenney's newsletter

"The Good Word"

There is a common misconception about God that needs to be cleared up if we are to avoid serious error. This misconception is that various religious groups all serve the same God ... just with different names. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I'll just cite three.

(1) Most American Indian cultures are polytheistic, worshipping many spirit-gods, but typically they recognize one supreme god they tend to call the "Great Spirit." Jesus Christ does not appear in their pantheon. (2) Freemasonry acknowledges and prays to a "supreme being" it calls the "Great Architect of the Universe" but denies the divinity of Jesus and His uniqueness as redeemer of lost mankind. In masonic doctrine Jesus is merely one of the "exemplars" -- one of the great religious leaders of the past on the same level as Buddha, Confucius and Mohammed. (3) Islam worships a single god whose name is Allah and declares that Mohammed is his prophet. Jesus is recognized as one of the lesser prophets, on the same level with Abraham, but subordinate to Mohammed.

Many sincere Christians believe that the "Great Spirit," the "Great Architect of the Universe" and "Allah" are merely different names for the same god -- our God -- our Heavenly Father. There are many reasons why this can't be true, but let me restrict this brief discussion to just one. It is simple -- it is unequivocal -- it is clear. You can't have the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob without Jesus, the Christ, the ONLY way to be reconciled to God (Jn 14:6) To be rightly related to God, you must be rightly related to Jesus as your Savior and Lord. No one can have God and yet reject Jesus. It's that simple and the Bible makes it clear (read 1 Jn 2:22, 23; 5:12; 2 Jn 9; Jn 5:23, 8:19).

From Tom McKenney's newsletter. To be put on his mailing list, write Tom C. McKenney, Words for Living Ministries, P.O. Box 413, Marion, KY 42064.