Table of Contents
Volume 41, Number 4
July - August 2010

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver
Dr. Mark D. Wagner

Perhaps you were surprised this past month when the Pentagon uninvited Franklin Graham to come and be a part of the National Day of Prayer. Evidently, his belief that Islam is evil and wrong was too much for the pluralistic society in which we live. Some news services called him a “divisive evangelist” because he “believes only Christians are saved, and no other faith leads to God.” How narrow!

Have those in the media failed to read the Bible? It is narrow. It doesn’t give every idol equal time. In fact, it is quite clear that the gods of the nations are not gods at all. Isaiah mocks those who would create their own god. He ridicules those who would burn part of a piece of wood to keep warm while carving the rest into something that they would bow down and worship (Isaiah 44).

What did Peter mean as he spoke to the Jewish leaders in Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved”? How daring of him to suggest such a thing to the spiritual leaders of his country! Where was his sense of “acceptance” of other, diverse approaches?

We must be mindful that the preaching of the cross is “to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). Jesus clearly proclaimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6)!

Spiritual pluralism is wrong. Our Christian brothers and sisters around the world know that this is true. In many places today they are being persecuted for their belief in salvation by grace, through faith in the crucified and risen Christ. Trusting Christ means rejecting Islam, Hinduism, or the animistic practices of their culture. There is no middle ground. Paul spoke boldly in Romans 1:16 that he wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

It is time for those of us who believe in the truth of the Gospel to defend it. So what does that look like? What will be the cost? Whenever God’s people have stood for the truth of the Bible, there has been opposition and persecution. Do you remember Daniel’s three friends who stood against the idolatrous worship of a pagan king? Three young men – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – would not fall down and worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar.

Certainly, they could have rationalized and said to themselves, “This is not worth dying over. The image is not a god at all. And we can bow down without compromising our belief in Jehovah.” But they chose to stand. They believed that there was only one true God and that compromising themselves (and their testimony) to an idol was wrong. They weren’t willing to be pluralistic (and neither was Nebuchadnezzar)!

Please read their conversation right before they were thrown into the flames: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, emphasis added).

Here is faith! These men risked their lives for the fact that there is only one true God. And no matter what transpired (they didn’t know the end of the story when they made their decision), they would not waver. It is time for those of us who claim the name of Christ to proclaim that Christ is the only way to eternal life. We need to pray for courage to stand against the pluralistic current of our day. The eternal destiny of our generation depends on it.