Last Lessons#44 – NO OTHER GODS

“You shall have no other gods before me.”  Exodus 20:3

There is no more important lesson for anyone to learn than that there is only one God and that he is the God of the Bible.  He is the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I am so grateful that I learned that lesson early in my life.  I learned who God was by reading, studying, and being taught the Bible.  I am still learning every day. 

The first of the Ten Commandments is that there is only one Lord, one God and that nothing is to be put before him. 

Recently, one of my fellow senior residents on hearing that I had been a missionary in Africa, asked me, “Why do you try to proselytize those people?  They are happy with their own gods.”  Sadly, that is the attitude of many today.  They think that people who do not know the true God are happy with substitutes.  Christians know better, of course.  Our world today wants all religions to be equal.  Many Christians do not want to say that all religions are not equal because 1) we do not want to argue, 2) we do not want to offend, 3) we want them to like us, and 4) we do not know what the Bible says.  We Christians should remember that the Ten Commandments are not “Ten Suggestions,” and that God expects us to tell others what God has said about himself. 

Christians must not say that all religions are the same.  We must not say that it’s ok for you to worship your god and I will worship mine.  And we must not keep silent in order to keep peace. 

I recently heard that there is a church called “The House of One” being built in Germany where Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship in separate parts of the same building at the same time to show that those religions are equal.  I wonder what God thinks of that!  Actually, I know what God thinks of that!  He made it clear when one of the scribes asked Jesus which commandment was the most important and Jesus answered:

“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”  Mark 12:29-30

There is only one true God – the God of the Bible.  All other gods are false, no matter how many people believe in them.

It’s hard sometimes to tell people, especially our friends and relatives whom we love, the truth.  But if we really love them, we must tell them the truth – there is only one God – and we all need him. 

In the place where I live, there are a number who will die soon.  All of us who live here are old!  I am asking God the Holy Spirit to enable me to reach out to some of them before it is too late.  Will you pray for me to love these people and to give them Bibles, books, and words that help them know that there is only one God and that he sent his Son to save them?