By No Other Name

Acts 4:5-12

Rev. Walter M. Bosman Jr. ©2006

This past Thursday was designated the “National Day Of Prayer”. For the past several years the first Thursday of May has been designated as a day for people to set aside some time to personally pray for our nation. Well, there it was! Front page bold headline in our county’s newspaper, The Carroll County Times. The headline read, “Groups To Refrain From Day Of Prayer”.

The article below the headline tells of how the Unitarian Universalist Church in Finksburg and the Interfaith Council of Westminster (which, by the way, is an organization supposedly dedicated to bridging the gaps between diverse religions) each had decided to opt out of participating in the day of prayer for our country. The reason they did this, according to their explanation, is because the Day of Prayer was established and is currently overseen by those people professing the Judeo-Christian faith and worldview. The interesting thing is, in my opinion at least, there has never been anything said, published, demanded, or even suggested, that people must pray to Jesus Christ, or even the Judeo- Christian image of God. People have only been asked to lift our country in prayer to whatever version of a Supreme Being they may have.

So I had trouble understanding why the Unitarian Universalists, who believe that God is a sort of Cosmic Force that is in everything (thus making everything God), couldn’t have prayed for the country they live in to that Force, or Mother Earth, or the trees, or each other, or something! Likewise, I couldn’t quite understand why the Interfaith Council, in the spirit of oneness, couldn’t have urged the different faiths to pray for the country they live in, to whatever or whoever God is in their beliefs. After thinking and praying about it for a couple of days, I came to believe that both groups were right not to take part! Not because I agree with their explanation, but rather because had they prayed to any god or force other than the One True Triune God, through the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ, then they would have been praying to a false, dead god or force anyway, thus wasting their time and their breath!

So the non-believing Unitarian Universalist Church and the deceit- promoting Interfaith Council decided not to pray on the National Day of Prayer. Big deal! The question becomes, why did their non-action deserve a bold type headline and story on the front page of The Carroll County Times? Why would the paper choose to run a non-significant, negative story on the inaction of two non-believing groups of people, rather than run a positive story of those who took time out to pray for our faltering nation? Could it be that these are the same liberal people who wish to exclude Jesus Christ, and thus God the Father (remember that Jesus said that “He who has not me, has not the Father” and “He who rejects me, rejects the One who sent me”), from all of our public places and actions? Yet these are the same people who, immediately after a disaster strikes, shout, “Where was God?”

Well, today’s message and our Bible readings this morning are specifically for them. The message is: “There is NO OTHER NAME by which we are saved!” What is the name that today’s scripture is speaking of? The name is Jesus Christ! Time and time and time again we are told that the only way to Heaven is through God the Son, Jesus Christ. People have said to me, “Isn’t that extremely arrogant? I mean, to say that you have to be a believer and follower of Christ, to be a Christian, is the only way into Heaven is, well, way too exclusive for me.”

Those people are usually of the mindset that all religions are the same and that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and you will be granted entrance into God’s Kingdom. The answer is that:

First of all, all religions are NOT the same!
Secondly, all religions are mutually exclusive!

For those who doubt that, let’s take a look at several of the currently popular religious belief systems and their answer to the most pressing question on most people’s minds, “How do I get into Heaven?”

Mormons teach that you must be a Mormon to enter into God’s Kingdom!
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that you must be a Jehovah’s Witness to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Obviously, both could be, but one of these must be incorrect and a false teaching since they are both exclusive of one another.

Islam teaches that you must be of the Islamic faith in order to get into God’s Kingdom. Uh oh, now at least two of these religions must be wrong since they are all exclusive of one another!
Christianity teaches that you must be a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ in order to enter God’s Kingdom when you die. Oh my, now at least three of these four belief systems must be wrong, since all four are mutually exclusive.

And so it goes for all religions. They are all exclusive of one another. So logic dictates that every religion may be wrong, but it is absolutely impossible for all religions to be right. Therefore, to argue that it does not matter what you believe simply does not hold water. So what is it that makes us Christians so sure that we have it right? It is the deity of Jesus Christ. It is the fact that He is God the Son.

The founder of Islam, Mohammed, never claimed to be God.
The founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, never claimed to be God.
The founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses never claimed to be God.

As a matter of fact, no founder of any of the religions currently existing on this Earth has ever claimed to be God! Except one! That One is Jesus Christ, who by His words, deeds and actions most definitely not only claimed to be God, but proved that He is who He says He is!

His words: “I and the Father are one. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. I AM…”
His deeds: changing water into wine, walking on the water, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the dumb talk, making the lame walk, and raising the dead.
His actions: forgiving sins, allowing Himself to be worshipped and most importantly Himself rising from the dead on Resurrection Sunday.

It was because of His words, deeds and actions that the Jewish leaders wanted to put Jesus to death. They understood that Jesus was claiming to be God’s equivalent, and that was extreme blasphemy in their belief system…unless it was true!

So the bottom line is this: You can pray to Buddha; You can pray to Mohammed. You can pray to St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, St Paul. You can even pray to the Virgin Mary if you wish. But none of those dead human beings can save you! You can pray to Mother Earth, but she can’t save you! You can pray to Allah, or any other false god you can conjure up in your mind, but they cannot save you. Scripture says that, “There is only one name under Heaven by which mankind can be saved” and that name is Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to like it.
You don’t have to agree with it.
You don’t have to even believe it, if you choose not to.

It is the truth nonetheless. Why? Because:

Jesus Christ does not just speak the truth.
Jesus Christ does not just live the truth.
Jesus Christ does not just point to the truth.
Jesus Christ is the truth.

The power of prayer, to and through Jesus Christ, heals and changes lives. Only the power of prayer, to and through Jesus Christ, saves souls for all eternity. That is the story that our newspapers should be printing. That is the story the media should be promoting. That is the story that we Christians should be shouting from the rooftops. Jesus Christ says, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

May that Truth not only be yours today and always, but may you also have the wisdom and boldness to share that Truth with everyone that you meet.