One Big Happy Family?

One of the problems in many modern churches today in my opinion is the trend to try to be all inclusive.  We don't want to offend.  We don't want to separate people.  We are just one big happy human race family.  From this trend also comes the belief that we "all serve the same God". 

Unfortunately my Bible tells me something different.  Let's take a look at some verses. 

Isaiah 45:6(NKJV)

    That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting     That there is none besides Me.     I am the Lord, and there is no other;

Here is just one example of God saying specifically that He is the only God.  Other religions say the same thing.  So only one of them can be right.  They obviously can't all be the same god if they are all claiming to be the only one.  Which one is really God?  

Ezekiel 34:17-24(NKJV)

17‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 

18Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? 

19And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

20‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 

21Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, 

22therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 

23I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 

24And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

God says very clearly that He will judge between "His sheep". 

Matthew 3:11-12(NKJV)

11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit £and fire. 

12His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Again we have God separating and judging.  What is He judging?  What is of value to Him vs. what isn't of value to Him.    Look at how He treats the two groups.  The "wheat" He gathers into His barn, it is valuable to Him so He takes care of it and protects it.  On the other hand look what He does with the chaff.  He burns it like so much garbage.  It is of no use to Him.  Wow, that's pretty harsh.

1 Timothy 2:5(NKJV)

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 

Here you have God very specifically saying that there is one God.  Not several. Not a couple. One.  And only one way to Him, through Christ.  Not through several ways, take your choice; nope, only one way.

Revelation 5:4-7(NKJV)

4So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open £and read the scroll, or to look at it. 

5But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and £to loose its seven seals.”

6And I looked, £and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

7Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Jesus is the only one authorized to open the scroll.

Revelation 5 really testifies to Jesus’ credentials

There are many other scriptures I could quote like Jesus saying "I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword" but you get the picture.

Now here is the point that I want to make.  Who decides which group a person falls within?  We do!  We each individually make that choice.  Once each person has heard the Gospel they have a choice to make.  You can either accept God or reject Him but the choice is totally up to you.

Now scripture tells us very clearly what God thinks of those who reject Him.  He considers them chaff to be burn up.  What's chaff exactly?

Chaff  

noun

1. the husks of grains and grasses that are separated during threshing.

2. straw cut up for fodder.
3. worthless matter; refuse.

4. the membranous, usually dry, brittle bracts of the flowers of certain plants.
5. Also called window. Military . strips of metal foil dropped by an aircraft to confuse enemy radar by creating false blips.

So God sees those who reject Him as garbage?  That's the way I read it.  There are those who would say that I am being judgmental and all that.  My response is that I am not being judgmental.  Each person who rejects God has voluntarily put themselves in this category that God told them ahead of time they would be in if they rejected Him.  That's not being judgmental.  That is self selection.

Now once a person rejects God, are they chaff forever?  Nope!  That's the cool thing about God.  He will always take you back unless you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.   Just confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.  That is why we need to keep witnessing to them.

So whose side do you want to be on?  It's your choice!