ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 53 -Numbers 23-25 (Is God Okay With Other Religions?)
“Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel." So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor." And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.” (Numbers 25:1-5,9)
Those who do not know the God of the Bible believe that all religions are good and lead to the same God. To them it makes perfect sense because the idea of a God who would send people to hell just because they do not whole-heartedly follow the One true God is not loving but hateful. Sadly, they are wrong and misguided in their beliefs.
As we read in our text above, God’s anger was greatly aroused when a segment of the congregaiton of Israel was seduced by the Moabite women which led to them to worship Baal, the god of Moab. In response, God told Moses to gather the leaders and order them to execute all those who were joined to Baal. Twenty-four thousand people who thought that God would be okay with them worshipping other gods were killed for their misguided beliefs.
The question I posted, “Is God okay with other religions?” can be answered accurately this way: The God of the Bible is not okay with other religions. The Bible teaches that there is only one God and He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) in that He will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 48:11) nor will He allow unfaithfulness from His creation (Jeremiah 3:20). If a person can understand that a husband would not be okay to share his wife with another man, then it should not be difficult to understand that the one true God who created everything, including man, would not be okay with people worshipping other gods beside Him.
You might be thinking: What about those who worship false gods because they hvae not heard about the one true God? Wouldn’t it be unfair that God would punish them for something that they cannot help? That is a very good question and one that I must admit I do not know the answer to. But this much I know; God cannot be unfair or unjust and He will deal justly with everyone for their beliefs and actions.
The lesson that we, who consider ourselves as believers, need to heed in our reading today is this: We need to be careful not to join ourselves with people or things that can lead us astray from the one true God just as the Moabite women led the Israelites astray from Jehovah. It is even more easy for believers today to fall into this dangerous trap. Believing the lie that all religions are good and lead to the same God; giving in to the temptation of looking at pornographic material; smoking pot under the excuse of medicinal purposes; drinking liquor more than occassionally; wearing clothes that are too revealing; all these seeming harmless things could very easily lead to worshipping those very same things as idols and thus being guilty of unfaithfulness to the one true God.
“Father, please keep me away from anything that could potentially lead me astray from you. I ask that you help me to hate sin and to cling to that which is good. Help me to love you with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. Put a guard over my eyes, mind, mouth and heart that I might be pleasing to you at all times. In Jesus name, amen.”
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