I was talking with a Muslim man named Ronnie at the Grapevine Mills mall last week. Ronnie claimed Islam as his faith, but he also claimed that he believed in reincarnation. I’ve never heard of a Muslim that believes in reincarnation before. But that is ok. Ronnie said that his family has had these beliefs for many generations. His mother and father, their parents and so on. Then Ronnie said something that really struck me. He said, “God is like this shopping mall. There are many doors. You can come into whichever one you like and still get into the mall.”
Now, to be sure, the one true God, the God of the scriptures, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob is not like a shopping mall. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What Jesus is describing is an exclusivity that belongs all to him. In Ronnie’s example, all of the doors to the mall are locked except one. Now, I don’t want to sound like I am picking on Ronnie. I’ve talked to many people who have this belief that “all roads lead to heaven” or “whatever I believe will happen when I die.” The reality is it does not matter one bit what a person believes. It only matters what is true. So is Ronnie the only one who thinks this way? No. Of course not. Check out these videos of some popular modern leaders
In this video, Joel Osteen can not make up his mind. He claims to believe in Jesus, who claims to be the only way. Why then would it be difficult to say that the other ways are the wrong way?
In this next video, Osteen says that Hindu’s that are sincere in their faith can still go to heaven.
What? Faith is only as valuable as the object of the faith. Faith must be placed in Jesus Christ alone or else it is worthless.
Let me leave you with this video where John MacArthur points out that Jesus is the only way means that all other ways are false. He states, “Theology of Islam is wrong. It’s the wrong God. It’s the wrong view of Christ…”
Let me be the first, and perhaps only one to comment. You have dug up a 6 year old clip of Osteen on Larry King. I say that if Osteen believes that there are other ways to Heaven besides Jesus, then over the past 6 years he would have said it again somewhere… Don't you think? Yet, I cannot find him saying that anywhere, even though he has done over 100 news interviews and spoken about 300 times in his church since this old Larry King interview. If this is all you have to make your point, it seems pretty thin to me.
Don – similarly for a blunder of this magnitude for a pastor, if he had changed his mind then there should be some easily found information that he actually believes in the Biblical salvation that Jesus is the only way. I have not seen that. If you know of it, please forward it over. Thanks!
Similarly, the other men in the third video have made similar statements. My point is that the belief that there are multiple ways to heaven is common even in what is perceived as a Christian church. Those are false teachings and those leaders need to repent.