The Only Way

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Acts 4:12 says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved “  

     I have been texting a person in England who said at the beginning that they were an atheist.  At one point I mentioned that she needed to know my God.  She informed me that she already knew my God as she had been raised Roman Catholic, her mother had been a Methodist Sunday School Teacher and she, the nurse, said that she had sung in various choirs as a young person and that her mother had gone to a Billy jGraham rally in London.  I said back to her that my God is a tad different than her upbringing.

     It is not that there is a god for the Catholics, a god for the Methodists and a god for the Baptist.  There is, obviously, only one  true God and that is the God of the Bible and has names such as El, Elohim, Jehovah and many other names as we have recently mentioned.  The difference that some have a difficulty accepting is the personal relationship with God.  While I was attending Indiana University for a year, I met a Catholic priest and was taking catechism instruction from him, intending to not only become Roman Catholic, but a priest of the Benedictine order.  After informing my family of my intentions, I was to no longer attend the university as they were not willing to pay my room and board and become a “mackerel snapper” as Catholics were called by the Lutherans in Indiana.  My Dad said, “Pick a branch of the service.  You are going in.”  I enjoyed the tradition, the music, the history of the Roman Catholic and had my crucifix, my missal and prayer books, but no personal relationship with God at all.  I was told that I was to pray to Mary because she would intercede for me with her son.  Thirteen years later I met the son myself and discovered that He loved me so much that He died for my sin.  I didn’t need Mary to intercede nor to pray to the saint of the day.  My Savior was sufficient.  That is the personal relationship that we can all have as a result of knowing the Savior personally.  We can speak to God the Father because our sins have been paid for by the sacrifice on the cross of His Son and there is no  other name in the whole world, whereby we can be saved.  We are reminded of that fact in the passage for today and Jesus Himself said it in John 14:6.  There is only one way to the Father and it is through Jesus Christ.  I never want to be disrespectful to God or say anything offensive to God and I feel that to have access into His throne of grace to find help is an extreme privilege, but I don’t need anyone else to intercede for me as do so many Catholic whether Roman or Greek or Russian.  The Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much that He paid the price for our sins.  He bore our sin that we might bear His righteousness.  Praise God for that very fact.