(upbeat music) - We close the week with a very important question, one that we never want to assume and one that we never want to ignore. It comes to us from a new podcast listener named Kayla. Pastor John, is God the same God in all religions but in different forms?

I've heard this said before, but what does the Bible say? - Let me make sure that I understand the question. I take Kayla to be asking, if we sincerely worship the God of any religion, are we worshiping the one true God? That's my rephrasing of the question. Or we could ask it like this.

Does the Bible teach that the gods of other religions besides Christianity are real supernatural beings distinct from and in opposition to the one true God and father of our Lord Jesus? So those are the two ways I would rephrase the question. And the answer to the second one is yes.

The Bible teaches that the gods of other religions are not mere names. They're not mere myths, but are in fact supernatural beings who love to be worshiped and want to deceive the world and receive acclaim and take the place of the true God. And the answer to the first question is therefore no.

If you sincerely worship these gods of other religions, you're not worshiping the one true God revealed in Jesus Christ. So that's my answer. Now here's some Bible verses to show you where I get that answer. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 19, "What do I imply then?

"That food offered to idols is anything "or that an idol is anything? "No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, "they offer to demons and not to God." I do not want you to be participants with demons. So the question he was dealing with was food offered to idols in another religion and whether Christians should participate.

And his explanation was that these sacrifices in the other religions in the first century were not sacrifices to the true God, as though behind every religion was the same God, but they were sacrifices to supernatural beings, he calls them demons, who were in opposition to God. That's what a demon is.

So what Paul is claiming is simply a continuation of what God had already revealed in the Old Testament. There is one true God in Israel, Yahweh, who revealed himself by his word to Moses and the prophets, and there are other gods of the nations, real supernatural beings that his people were not to worship.

For example, Deuteronomy 29, 18, "Beware, lest there be among you a man or a woman "whose heart is turning away today from Yahweh, your God, "or the Lord our God, "to go and serve the gods of those nations." Or Joshua 23, 7, "You may not mix with these nations remaining among you, "or make mention of the names of their gods, "or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them, "but you shall cling to Yahweh, your God, "just as you have done to this day." So God made it clear numerous times in the Old Testament from the beginning that there were other gods, there were other religions, and his people were not to assume that these gods are simply manifestations of his own true being, as if the same god were behind every religion.

They were different, they were competitors, they were enemies, they were demonic, they are not God. They are contenders for deity. They are real supernatural demonic realities. And the great issue of life is, will you serve the one true God, or will you serve other gods? So Elijah, or Mel Carmel, put it like this, in the great contest between Yahweh on the one side and Baal, the god on the other side.

He says, "How long will you go limping "between two different opinions? "If Yahweh is God, follow him. "But if Baal, then follow him." So Baal is not Yahweh. You can't say, "Oh, all those sincere Baal worshipers "are worshiping the true God." The Bible makes zero sense if that's the case.

They are great enemies. So the first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20, verse three. Here's the most crucial issue in our day. Ever since Jesus came into the world as the final decisive revelation of the true God, he himself, as he revealed himself in history, is the test of whether any claim to be worshiping the true God is a real claim.

So for example, 1 John 4, verse one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit. So if a spirit says, "This is a true religion. "This is true God over here." Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Now, how are we gonna do that?

For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. In other words, the real Jesus of history revealed in scripture is the litmus test of every claim to supernatural reality.

Any religion that does not embrace and worship and obey Jesus for who he is revealed in the Bible is a false religion. It is not the true God incognito. Jesus put it like this in John 5, 23. Whoever does not honor the son, Jesus, does not honor the father who sent him.

No matter what they say, he's talking to Pharisees who really said they trusted and believed in the God of the Old Testament. He's saying, "No, you don't because you don't accept me." Jesus is the litmus test for all religions, including Judaism. And again, John 8, 42. If God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here.

In 1 John 2, 23, John says, "No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also." So my conclusion from the Bible is that there are real supernatural beings behind other religions, but they are not the true God. They are contenders against God.

They are demons and deceivers. And the way to test all claims to truth in religion is Jesus Christ. He is the final and decisive revelation of the one true God. - Wow, behind every religion is a supernatural being. That is a profound thought. Thank you, Pastor John, for those wise words.

And thank you for listening to the podcast. Well, next time, we've got an interesting question on the table. We usually do have interesting questions on the table. I hope we always do. But this one is going to be, the next one is gonna be about the worship song, "What a Beautiful Name." That's the title.

You've probably not only heard the song, you've likely sung it in your local church. We have a question about the line in the second verse, this line that says, "You didn't want heaven without us, so Jesus, you brought heaven down." Is that right? Is it right to say that God did not want heaven without us?

It's the first time I can recall that an email came in asking Pastor John to evaluate contemporary worship lyrics of a very popular song. And we're gonna do that very thing next time. And we're gonna talk also about why we would even step back and look at worship lyrics in the first place.

It's a really important discussion. I don't think you'll wanna miss it. Launching Sunday evening, about 7.30 Central Time. You won't wanna miss this one. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you next week. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)