Followers of Abraham

When Jesus spoke to the Jewish leaders in John 8, He told
them that they were not followers of Abraham. They thought they were!
But Jesus said, “If you were followers of Abraham, you wouldn’t be seeking to
kill Me. Abraham didn’t do that.” He says, “You are of your father the devil.” Jesus
said their religion was demonic—they were following the great Liar.

If what Jesus said is true, then we should not be following
our own views of the other religions in the world today. They are not only
anti-God, they are anti-Christian. If a member of a Muslim family becomes a
believer, his relatives are required to kill him. In this demonic groups, there
is no tolerance for people becoming Christians. This is still happening today.
When people survive, they are a great testimony to the power of God for
goodness and kindness and love and peace, and they are either admired for this or
hated for it.

An almost unspoken belief of Christians in the western world
is that people are Hindus because they are in India, or people are Buddhists
because they are in China, or Muslim because they are in the Middle East, and
we’re Christians because we’re in the United States. We do not assume that our
fellow Americans are followers of the devil who need to be saved. But that is
what they are.

Peter said, “There is no other name given under heaven by
which we must be saved.” This is either true or false. If it’s true, salvation
doesn’t come through anyone except Jesus Christ.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Preaching
the Word of God is how people can repent and turn from their sins, from the
devil, and to God.

Christians in the United States go to church. But there is
somewhere else we are to go—into all the world, making disciples of all nations
and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. Christians go to
church, but on the whole we do not go to all the nations, teaching everything
that we have heard and believed.

Not only do we not go to all nations—we don’t go to our own
neighbors, to the people across the street. The second greatest commandment is
to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is second only to loving God.
Loving our neighbor means doing what is best for him. What is best for him is
for him to love God the father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If
Christians in the U.S. are guilty of anything, it is this: we are not teaching
our neighbors about the Lord Jesus.

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.