It is a tale of two women that could have ended in a drastically different way.

The mother of a nineteen-year-old man became concerned about his stockpile of guns and his online chatter, phone conversations, and recent actions. She called authorities, who came to her home in Ohio and found spent ammunition and tactical clothing. Her son admitted to planning a coordinated attack on last Sunday’s UFC event at the White House, where thousands of people were in attendance.

He also identified others involved in the alleged plot. When the FBI searched the home of another alleged co-conspirator, they found the man’s firearms and tactical equipment that his wife said he’d purchased in recent months. She also said her husband told her he was a recruiter for the group. However, she had said nothing to the authorities prior to the FBI’s arrival.

What if the mother of the first suspect had acted with no more urgency than the wife of the second?

Treating other faiths like World Cup opponents

President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that laid out terms for ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump could be seen signing the memorandum late Wednesday at the Palace of Versailles in a video published by French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr. Pezeshkian signed the memorandum separately, according to Iranian state media.

While experts and pundits have focused on the contents of the agreement, I asked us yesterday to intercede for the millions of lost people in Iran with compassion for their eternal souls. As I did so, however, a question occurred to me that I think many people would ask: What if they are not truly lost?

Many, if not most, Americans would say that there are many roads up the same mountain, meaning that Iranian Muslims are no more right or wrong in their religion than American Christians. Many would add that if Iranian Muslims are sincere in their faith, that’s all God requires.

Some would go even further, insisting that tolerance of all viewpoints is the only acceptable way to respond to a world in which all truth is (allegedly) personal and subjective.

I know that many World Cup fans are passionate about loving their team and hating all others, but is this really the way we should treat those of other faiths and none?

Questions for a just and loving God

I’m confident that you would vote for the proposition that lost people need Jesus. But permit me to ask: When was the last time you shared Jesus with a lost person? When last did you take a mission trip to share the gospel with those who had not heard it? When last did you pray for Iranians and the billions of others who fit into both categories?

If it’s been a while, may I hazard a guess as to why?

If we can quote John 3:16, we know all a lost person needs to know to be saved. If we invest our time, money, and other resources in possessions and activities, we are willing to pay a price to do something worth its cost.

However, many are not absolutely certain that evangelism qualifies.

How can a just God consign the billions who have not heard the gospel to hell for rejecting a message they have never heard? Similarly, how can a loving God reject the multitudes who have heard the gospel without accepting it but who love their families, serve their communities, and otherwise live as Christians should?

Twenty thousand called to reach 180 million

I understand these questions. But Jesus clearly said of himself, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).

In this light, let’s ask:

• What of “good” people who have “not believed”? Their first sin was enough to separate them eternally from the sinless God and his perfect heaven (cf. Romans 6:23).
• What of those who sincerely believe in other religions? Only Jesus was the sinless Savior who died for our sins (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2); only faith in him is sufficient to receive the salvation he alone can give (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:13).
• What of those who have not heard the gospel? If they do not need to trust in Christ, why are we commanded and commissioned to tell them (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8)?

The first Christians had even more right to ask such questions than we do. By Acts 4, the number of “men” who believed in Christ “came to about five thousand” (v. 4). Including families, this would constitute a church of around twenty thousand charged with reaching a global population of around 180 million. With a life expectancy of around thirty years, clearly the vast majority would die without hearing the gospel.

Included in that number was a population of perhaps four million Jews who sincerely believed in a religion apart from Christianity; the vast majority would likewise die without hearing the gospel. And yet the first Christians risked—and many gave—their lives to share Christ with the Jews and Gentiles of their day (cf. Romans 10:1–4).

“The greatest favor I can do for others”

It comes to this: We can risk the eternal destiny of the eternal souls we know by allowing our questions to hinder our evangelism. Or we can do what we are clearly commissioned to do: share Christ with everyone we can in every way we can.

The evangelist and author Paul Little believed,

“Witnessing is the deep-seated conviction that the greatest favor I can do for others is to introduce them to Jesus Christ.”

For whom will you do this “greatest favor” today?

Quote for the day:

“God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them.” —George Whitefield

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Denison Forum