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By MANDY A. NEPOMUCENO
MANY DESIRES SALVATION and eternal life at the end of their journey in this world. And so, armed with their own assumptions and beliefs, together with an intense yearning and profound sincerity, they have set on their own way so they could attain what they want to have in the end.
However, how certain can anyone be if he is indeed treading the right way to salvation and eternal life? Who can guarantee such claim to eternal life? In the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), hence, no other person can be a better guarantor or guide than Him. Lest a man finds out too late, when Judgment Day comes, when his hope for eternal life would not be realized anymore for having taken a wrong path, it is imperative to learn now from Christ what needs to be done.
A very remarkable exchange between Christ and some scribes in Mark 12:28-30 reads:
“Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’ Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”.’ This is the first commandment.” (New King James Version)
Our Lord Jesus Christ laid down what man should fulfill first and foremost, that is, that he should love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Man must not only believe that God exists; he must have fellowship with the Lord God based on love. And to do this, he must first know who the true God is.
Christ did not leave us lacking of this knowledge. In His prayer to God, He revealed who the true God is, whom all should know:
“When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.
“‘And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth’.” (John 17:1, 3 New Living Translation)
Christ clearly declared that the only true God all people should know is the Father. With this knowledge comes what man yearns the most to have for his spiritual welfare. Christ said, “This is the way to have eternal life.”
With this truth comes the realization: Christ did not claim to be the true God, nor did He teach us that the true God has three persons. Instead, He Himself prays to and believes in the only true God—the Father in heaven.
If man would choose to acknowledge a different god other than the Lord God taught by Christ, he had taken a misstep towards eternal life, and this will only lead him to perdition. According to the Bible, those who adhere to false beliefs and worship false gods have no place in the holy nation of God (Gal. 5:20-21 New Life Version).
Sad to say but although most Christian-professing religions also believe in God and the Bible, however, they uphold a doctrine different from what the Bible teaches. Others believe that aside from the Father, Christ is also God, as well as the Holy Spirit. And there are others who believe that they too can become gods. They hold such assumptions even without the benefit of the testimonies from the Bible. We are not surprised, for Apostle Paul mentioned a similar situation but taught firmly, thus:
“Even if there are so-called ‘gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, and even though there are many of these ‘gods’ and ‘lords,’ yet there is for us only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this truth. …” (I Cor. 8:5-7 Good News Bible)
Apostle Paul openly declared his faith: there is only one God, the Father, the Creator of all things. He also referenced that this faith was shared by those who were with him. He said, “yet there is for us only one God, the Father.” True Christians, like Apostle Paul and those whom he taught then, ardently uphold this truth. This is one of the qualities which makes them different from those who merely profess to be Christians.
Even in ancient times, when Christ was not yet born, God’s servants expressly believed that there was only one God, the Father in heaven:
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers?” (Mal. 2:10 NKJV)
They were so sure because they received this teaching from the Lord God Himself when He proclaimed:
“Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.” (Isa. 45:21 New International Version)
Even if it comes to the point when this entire world chooses to be united and believe in a God different from what our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, and our Lord God Himself teach, true Christians would not even flinch; rather, they will continue defending the truth about the one true God. This is the conviction of the true Church Of Christ (Iglesia Ni Cristo).
Moreover, what does the Bible teach about our Lord Jesus Christ? Do true Christians believe that Christ is God? True Christians uphold what Christ upheld that He Himself professed:
“… Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’.” (John 20:17 NKJV)
Clearly, Christ here was not referring to Himself as God. Rather, He acknowledges the Father as His God. The one true God does not acknowledge any other God (Deut. 32:39 niv). The God whom Christ acknowledges as His God is the one whom the true Christians also acknowledge as their only God.
Christ even refused to be acknowledged as God. When He was resurrected, He showed Himself to His apostles and they supposed that they had seen a spirit (Luke 24:37). In John 4:24, Christ taught that God is Spirit. Thus, when the apostles thought that Christ was a spirit, they supposed that He appeared to them as God. However, Christ immediately corrected this wrong belief. Not only did He declare that He is not spirit or God but He also taught the great difference between His nature or state of being and that of a spirit (Luke 24:38-39).
Christ is not God; He is a man, according to Himself (John 8:40). He is sent by God. He is different from God who sent Him. He has so many qualities and power not given to any other man. Indeed, He is not an ordinary man: He is our Mediator (I Tim. 2:5); He is our Lord (Acts 2:36); He is our Savior (Acts 5:31); He is commanded to be worshiped (Phil. 2:9-11). Nevertheless, these powers and qualities are only given to Him by God. Still, in the time of His need, He called on God to save Him:
“In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him.” (Heb. 5:7 GNB)
The Iglesia Ni Cristo is firm with this conviction because when our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed this incontrovertible truth—that there is only one God, the Father—He also taught that upholding this teaching is the way to have eternal life (John 17:1-3).
Thus, let us uphold these teachings in the Bible to be our guide and let us put off those false notions and begin to take our first steps towards receiving what our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord God have promised. 
This article was originally published in the Pasugo: God’s Message magazine.
For more articles, visit www.pasugo.com.ph
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