I read on the front page of Monday’s (Nov. 2) Evansville Courier and Press a feature on the installation ceremony of a Hindu deity at the Tri-State Hindu Temple in Newburgh. It is a fresh reminder of the absolute blindness that veils the eyes and hearts of so many in our own neighborhoods and throughout the nations.
It’s a sad story. Well-meaning, religious-minded people are celebrating over a 2,200 pound elephant-faced stone carving supposedly designed to represent an image of God. The article states that this particular idol called Ganesha is revered for his wisdom and as the remover of obstacles. The ceremonial offerings and rituals performed during the installation were intended to bring God’s presence into this idol.
It’s heart-breaking because hundreds of millions of Hindus are believing in an empty way of life handed down to them from their forefathers. And not only Hindus, but billions of Muslims, Buddhists and people of all kinds of religions are being deceived and destroyed by the “father of lies” himself.
And it’s not just people of eastern world religions that I’m burdened for; it’s also the people of this nation and people in our own neighborhoods who have fallen for Satan’s schemes. It’s for all those who have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised” (Rom. 1:25) that I am in sorrow. That includes many well-meaning, religious-minded people along with the downright defiant and disobedient, and my heart aches for them to know the Truth.
I am aware that some reading this will call me a closed-minded, intolerant and foolish Bible-thumper. Please understand that I speak not out of hatred toward anyone, but out of love for everyone. The only hatred I have is toward sin. I’m saddened and angered by the consequences of sin, both temporal and eternal. Sin leads to death.
But it’s the love of Christ that compels me (“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” 1 Cor. 9:16), because the fact is that Jesus gave His very life on the cross for all mankind. The one, true God of the universe showed just how much He loves each and every person in the world by giving His own Son to die! Jesus suffered the blows upon His back. He felt the pain of the nails being driven into His hands and feet. He experienced the humiliation and anguish of the cross. And worst of all, He felt the wrath of God being poured out upon Him as He bore our sins in His body on the tree.
And He did it all for love – for the glory of God. If there was any other way man could be saved from eternal death and hell, if there was any other way to experience true peace and joy, and if there was any other way to have the assurance of an everlasting inheritance in the heavens, then Christ died for nothing. All other religions, in some way or another, are trying to offer man what only the Lord God has already offered exclusively in Christ Jesus.
But not only did Jesus die so that we could be forgiven for our sins, but the proof of His power and authority is in His resurrection from the dead! No other prophet or so-called “god” has conquered the grave! Jesus lives! And “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The God of heaven and earth has gone out of His way to display His glory – in His creation and in His Son. He has done nothing but offer this world abundant and eternal life – if only we’ll repent of our sin and receive the forgiveness and new life that Jesus Christ alone gives. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Lord pleads with you to come to Him and be saved. He is not a “god” that has to be removed from a wooden shipping crate, nor a “god” who must be put to bed at night. “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god’” (Isa. 44:6).
See also, among others: Exodus 20:1-6; Psalm 135; Isaiah 44
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