Religious Pluralism And Apologetics

Dear God our Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us here this morning And Lord as we study this material as we open up your word we ask you for your spirit that he would illumine our hearts and minds that we can know the truth and That we can apply the truth both in our lives and in the lives of the people whom we meet in Christ's name.

We pray Amen Okay So let's begin with a question

I have about three words that open up pluralism inclusivism and exclusivism

Who can tell me what these words mean? Pluralism first. What is pluralism?

Any takers? Even if you're not sure you're welcome to venture a guess Many religions plural multiple religions.

Yes That's a good guess That's right many paths that lead to the same

God It's not we do have multiplicity of religions But the idea that they all somehow tend to get to one truth no matter which way you go and that's pluralism

What would inclusivism be that is true?

All parts are equally valid. Nothing should be rejected. I'd like to fine -tune that definition a little more

Inclusivism That they are all all are practiced.

I think that gets a little closer so, you know, all of these are valid, but they are valid in the sense in the way they are practiced and Pasadena Thank you.

That's the key the difference between pluralism and inclusivism is pluralism. You could believe in Allah or or nothing, you know be an atheist, but you would still get to the end, but the inclusivist is a if you want to think orthodoxy on this end and Unbelief on this end

Pluralism would be the most extreme that everything is fine Inclusivism comes here and says you need the work of Christ because apart from the work of Christ you cannot be saved

But you don't necessarily have to believe repent and Submit to Christ as long as you're sincere and whatever you do

Christ's work will automatically be applied to you and you are included Inclusivism included in the redemptive work of Christ.

So that's inclusivism. So what would exclusivism be? Yes right one way so it is it says

You exclude all other ways except the one way which is the truth. So if there is one truth

Error cannot be truth at the same time and unless you believe in Christ you cannot Enter heaven there is one narrow way.

There are no broad ways or multiple ways and That's exclusivism. So that would be an orthodox biblical position which says there is

Christ is the only way and you need to repent and believe in him in order to be saved

So those are the three words pluralism always a fine inclusivism Christ is the only way But even if you don't believe you can come in and exclusivism is you have to believe in Christ That he died for your sin before you can be saved

Before I get into this subject of pluralism, I want to distinguish something. I have a note there which says religion versus friendship

Sometimes when we define ourselves as exclusivist You know, even the word has a very

Negative connotation to it, doesn't it? He's an exclusivist. He belongs to a clique or he's a

You know, he doesn't like other people that's the sense that you get of the word exclusivist and We want to make sure we understand in what context we are applying this whole

Inclusivism versus exclusivism. We're not saying, you know, we are all Christians those of us here in this room we are the best and Everybody else is the worst and we will just stick with each other

We will not you know, go and talk to the people down our street. That's not what we're talking about when we say exclusivism

I think all of us know this but it's good to remind ourselves once again when we talk about exclusivism We talk about the faith what

God has revealed to us and that's the one way we will stick When it comes to our relationship with the people, in fact, we're going to be talking about the world in the rest of this application

It does not mean that we exclude everybody else. We are Loving enough.

I think to go out into all the world and let everybody know the truth That will truly set them free and we want to be

Over archingly embracing just as God and John 3 16 says he loved the world so much that he sent his son likewise he in Matthew 28 has told us to go out into all the world and Proclaim the great news the gospel the good news

So everybody else can also know the truth that God is so graciously given to you and that's the one sense in which we are

Not exclusives exclusivist in the personal sense. It's not that because because we are smarter more righteous more

Accomplished that we are Christians We recognize that we were the worst sinners

But God in his grace opened our eyes opened our hearts to see something that we would not have seen otherwise

And we would like everybody else To see the same truth and that God's grace would come upon them

So just want to make sure we distinguish what we mean by exclusivism In in in relationship to the truth.

I have a note here, which is unexamined life of unbelievers Most of my time well, maybe a little bit of my time we were going to be talking about apologetics

When you go to evangelism many of you here are ardent people who love the Lord will love

The people so you go out and proclaim the truth 90 % of the time the people you speak to and tell hey, you know

There is a God that he made you and he loves you He's a holy God and he loved the world so much that he sent his son that you must believe in him

The Bible calls you a sinner and you need to know that Many times when you 90 % of the time you meet people

They haven't even thought about that question deep enough. You know, I'm just living life. I have a job

I have a family or I have trouble but I'm not sure. I'm just going to Struggle my way through it.

Most of the people you meet will not have examined and come to a conclusion You know Christianity is false and that this particular viewpoint is true

Apologists Mostly talk not to the common people who haven't actually examined themselves

Apologists what they normally try to do is talk to those people who have come to a examined and convinced conclusion that either atheism or Hinduism or Islam or New age or whatever it is is the way that they believe is true and apologists apologists

Christian apologists what we try to do is to show the truth of the Bible as it bears down upon each of these errors and shows how

These are false and they don't stand up against the light of God's truth So that's the difference between evangelism and apologists

Most of us as evangelists we go out into the streets and we tell people we love them and this is the truth you ought to know it come into the kingdom the

Lord beckons you and receive the goodness that he has for you and most people receive it and they will think and we pray that the

Holy Spirit would work in their hearts and open their eyes so They can come and experience the great joy that you have received in Christ Whereas when you talk about apologists, you're actually talking about people who have come to a position

Mostly rejecting the truth of the gospel and you need to apply still lovingly and gently

But the truth of God's Word as it as it applies to specific positions that stand up against the truth

Now the verse on which I want us to hinge the rest of our time is 1st John 2 15 John says do not love the world or the things in the world

Who here can define what the word world means in that verse This is different than the world in John 3 16 who can tell me what it means?

Yes, Brad The world system. Can you elaborate that a little bit?

What? Kind of system is this? That's that's that's a right answer

Yes, Barbara Yeah, it's what underlies the way people operate in the world their philosophy their value system

What it is that they believe is real on on the basis of which they act There is another component to this world.

Can anyone else venture a guess? Yes That is true

In fact John Verse 16 talks about the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life And it is idolatry in the sense that it values something more than God Yes It's a wide road that leads to destruction.

Yes, all of these are true. I would just add one more component to this It is the system that is

Under the influence of Satan or the or the Prince of the power of the air

We need to be very clear. The Bible says there are just two kingdoms There is a kingdom of God which is under the lordship of Jesus Christ And then there is another kingdom

Which is under the devil the people who belong in the world may not recognize that there is a

Person who is ruling over them they may think that they are autonomous, but the world the system the philosophies the values that undergird the world that first John 2 15 talks about Is under the influence of the devil and is marching in the orders of the enemy

So it is very clear. It is very important for us to recognize when we talk about pluralism what

The Bible actually talks about it in Ephesians 2 you talk in Ephesians 6.

We see the prince of the power of the air the spiritual forces of wickedness the

These are moments when I my brain freezes up. Let me just read that I Think pastor day would probably

Yep, there it is Ephesians 6 12 a struggle is not against flesh and blood So when we think of pluralism don't think about the people who believe these systems

But rather it is against rulers against powers against world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly

Places it is a spiritual battle against the devil who is the direct controller of everything that happens in the world so this is the context so let's

Recognize what we are up against it is not against just the philosophies of the world But against the spiritual forces of wickedness that influence and and feed this world systems

So let's get into the notes now In in the in the world

That we live in today. It is steeped in religious pluralism because I think if you talk to most people they will say

You know, there can't be just one way there must be more ways and I'm sure all the ways if you just practice them

Well must lead up to God In fact, if you were to be an exclusivist the idea seems to be too intolerant you know you you just don't love these other people who are sincere and doing what they want to do and for you to say

That you are true and everybody else is false is Bigotry, you know, you're just being you know, very

Narrow focus you don't recognize what's out there and it is you're the one who is sinful being

Intolerant, but I'm going to just quickly show you how this pluralism as we see it in the world has come to be so you can just understand a little bit of history of why the world today is the way it is and In one sense, we are actually going to I think

I have it in your note Yes, we're going to climb down the ladder of depravity to see you know

Why this came to be the way it is? I will make sure we have some foothold so we don't just kind of slip down and then say

You know at the end, but we will we will do it and then we will recognize how as a

Christian It's a godly Christian as a loving Christian. We must respond to the situation that is there in the world around us

I will actually say that right now in first Peter 315. That is the worst for most apologists

You know be ready to give a reason for the faith that is in you But it also says do it with gentleness and meekness do it with a loving heart

And that's exactly what we're going to do as we look at pluralism the next section

Actually, I I do have a note there We want to do it gently because of God's grace because we recognize it's not we are better God has granted us this gift and we would be exactly in this boat if God hadn't opened our eyes, so we want to be

Understanding and loving when we come alongside unbelievers Next week, I think you're going to be hearing from pastor

Steve on ecumenism and it talks about how within the church there is a tendency to tone down the truth and You will hear much harsher words for those within the church

What we would call false teachers who try to come in and say you know I'm a Christian But I'm going to make things a lot easier

And I know I have a better knowledge of truth than the Bible and those people will receive very strict words because like the

Pharisees they come alongside they take the Bible, but they Pervert it. They're like wolves in sheep's clothing and those people

Jesus had the strongest condemnations Matthew 24 you you you just You shake when you hear what

Jesus says to those people so we will use strong terms For those within the church who pervert the gospel, but when we talk to those who are outside We will recognize that you know this is the world and we will come alongside and we will present the truth

But we will do it in a way that will hope hopefully illuminate as the Spirit of God quickens them

So let's talk a little bit about a few words modernization This is actually the material that I have here comes from this book, so if you're interested you are welcome to borrow it encountering religious pluralism

For the most part it is good. It's got a few sections that I wouldn't recommend But most of this terminology is pretty good

Modernization people disagree in terms of what range it starts, but there are a few Time periods when this whole thing happened the words are enlightenment

This is in the 18th century when the people said you know coming out of the Middle Ages We we need to there's a lot of philosophy that comes up They said you know what we actually think and act doesn't seem right

And then they come up with a new system and enlightenment where their eyes are opened and they start to think differently you are familiar with the

Renaissance and France and England and that's the period that starts off this thinking and then you have the industrialization in the 19th century in the

England where you know people start to develop things and say you know what we're not just We are pretty good man is capable of doing a lot of things get a lot more confidence in who you are as a human

Being and then we have the technological advancements in the 20th century where you know we can now do a whole lot more

We don't really need God if you go back before the Enlightenment At least in the

Western world the Word of God and God himself was not questioned You know for many centuries even if they didn't truly believe in God The idea of who

God is that there is a God and that this God is revealed in the scriptures was taken for granted

For those of you who know church history you will know by the time Luther comes along The so -called church at that time had perverted the gospel

Significantly they claim to believe in the Bible they claim to believe in a God But their lifestyle was so horrible that there was really no connection between those who were professing faith in Christ And the truth of the gospel there were very few who genuinely believed it

And so you have the rest of the world looking at this and saying you know this can be true the Bible Cannot be the authoritative scripture the

Word of God to man. It must be just another book like any other book That's what happens in the

Enlightenment And then you start from that period on examining the Bible just like any other book and say well

I'm going to not come under the authority of God But I'm going to be over the authority of I'm going to be the authority who's over the scriptures and God and everything else so During this period of modernization what you see is instead of taking it for granted what most people obviously knew

Now man becomes the autonomous self ruler. He stands on top of the scriptures

He says I'm going to judge and decide whether the Bible is true I'm going to judge whether there is a God or not and that's the switch that happens during this period and And so what basis does man now have to judge?

the scriptures or to judge God himself Well as Christians we would say he has absolutely no authority do it.

We will see that as we get to the end, but man in his Thinking comes up with at least two different things one is he says you know from the

Enlightenment. I have reason I have different ways philosophical systems ways of thinking I'm going to apply them on the scripture and try to see if it meets my criteria one is reason

And I think I have it here as flawed Reason because we will see that man in his sin is incapable of being the judge of all the earth and secondly he would use positivism which is

It was a Movement in well, let's not basically he will say I need data

I'm going to look at data And I'm going to see if all these data that I have meet my criteria

And if it does then I will believe so that's like evidences You know I need to know these things in order to believe in something so those are two general senses in which it was used

Well if you think modernization was bad where God and the scripture being over us to man being over Scripture and God post modernization takes it even further

Now instead of having some objective standard even if it was sinful man himself Post modernization has a spirit of relativizing everything so you now move from Objective standards whether it is a standards of God's scripture or standards of man's autonomy

You know say there is no standard and everything is subjective. You know I can just truth is relative and it's more personal than universal and There is really nothing that is objectively true, and then you've come in the sciences different Systems like deconstructionism, so then when you try to find a rule to apply to the scriptures you say oh

You know that's like any other book the guy who wrote it was You know like bigoted or you know he had he didn't write the truth or we can never know

What anybody ever wrote in history that's radical deconstructionism, but there is nothing that you can absolutely know about the past To us it may sound foolish in fact to most of the world it may sound foolish but that is one of the positions of these systems that stand up against truth and And propagate error that there is really nothing that you can know and that leads to a very radical

Skepticism in fact the reason I mean if you open up the newspaper and see the amount of sin and Hopelessness that is there in the world today.

It is because of this philosophy that has Crept underneath and broken down the foundations of a society where the objective truth is now replaced by a quicksand because there is really nothing that is really real on which you can stand anything you stand on will shift shake and fall and Like Nietzsche The philosopher who believed in nihilism which is the end of both modernism and post -modernism you will have to say you know

A there is no God and B. There is no meaning and B. See I cannot live and that's the conclusion of these false

Philosophies and especially post -modernism so far we've looked at the philosophical system modernization and post modernization any questions so far

In fact if some terminology I'm using is not clear, please ask I don't have too many questions for this thing

And I'm using it too many words. I can't pronounce that well, so if you don't understand something just stop me

Excellent point it is so gradual that people don't see how Satan has deceived and has subtly come underneath and undercut truth and And and that is one of the reason why the world does not see the hand of Satan and all of this it thinks it is

Autonomous, but it really is not and it is going down that slippery slope Okay, the next word.

I have here is globalization so Most of us knows globalization as saying you know maybe 200 years back most of us

Well, maybe even a hundred years back traveling to another continent would have been pretty impossible Now with the world being such a small place we can go meet different people

I can be here The world has become much more accessible and that in that sense

It's a good thing that we have gotten to know all of creation that God has made in in ways that we would not have known

Maybe 500 years back it would have been the world would have been very small because you didn't know what existed outside of certain boundaries

But the globalization that I want us to focus on is more of the religious sense because in the last

Maybe 200 years or so as contact with other religions came into being the

Western world or the world the Christian the let me rephrase it

God revealed himself to Israel in the Old Testament and with the New Testament that knowledge started to spread out into the then

Known world through the Romans and then since then it has been spreading out as God and his providence has expanded the kingdom

Throughout all the known world, but in the last 200 years or so the

Christians have been Examining other religions and and saying well Matthew 28 says we need to go tell the truth

So we will go and tell the truth in all these other Cultures these countries these people groups these other religions that this is the true gospel but between I think 1800 and 1900

I think they had a pastor Steve will probably talk about this next week. You can see how the

Christian world instead of Speaking the truth got influenced by the world and the other religions so as part of the globalization what had happened was instead of People staying on the truth of God's Word and proclaiming the truth faithfully had begun to question

What really is true and that started? Especially as you understand the philosophical system of the world that started this slide from exclusivist position on truth to a more inclusivist and then finally into Total pluralistic

Understanding and that happens within the church. So what I have here next as Universalism it slips from inclusivism to pluralism and then it goes down a slippery slope

I Want to just use this example of this man named John Hick He's actually a friend of this author.

This author is a Christian author, but this man His life and his understanding is a good example of how

As a whole our culture has shifted into pluralism but this man is the leading proponent of pluralism today is still alive and and Preaches this gospel false gospel of pluralism and as I think we look at his life

I think we will we will recognize some of the troubles that The world is beset in and how we can respond with the truth of the gospel

John Hick began as a Christian he thought he was a

Christian and He he had two problems one he had difficulty accepting the authority of Scripture and Secondly, he had difficulty understanding the person of Christ These were two important doctrines on non -negotiables in our faith and those two foundational issues

He was not sure about even as he was thinking. He was a Christian and and Upon this weak foundation.

He got to meet some Other faiths. Yeah, I think he went to California and he saw some

Buddhists and Pantheists and he said and he nice guy loved the people and he said, you know,

I love these people. How can they be false? So something must be wrong in Christianity, you know, how can

Christianity be for true and all these you know Smart intelligent and wise people of the

East. How can they be mistaken for centuries? so I need to come up with a view that kind of Helps these other people along, you know,

I can't I can't somehow push them out and Without having a foundation of God's Word and truth.

What he does is he slips into inclusivism and What he says is these people don't need to know about Christ These people are smart

They understand a lot of things and I'm going to accommodate Christ and his work for people who do not know

Jesus personally So he says I'm going to become an inclusivist and all these Hindus and Buddhists now become part of God's people as long as they do whatever they're doing sincerely and the problem was there was a

The people that he included and I really want to get through this today the people that he included did not like that Can you think why?

Yes, Bruce Exactly.

So in Hicks system, you still have Christ as the head and all these people who believe other things have somehow

Second -class citizens in this kingdom. Why should that be the case? And so although initially he got a lot of approval from these people soon

They realized that he's he's kind of sneaking them into a system that they have no respect for and so they said no that's not true and So Hicks said well what you're saying is a valid Statement.

I myself have a lot of trouble understanding who Christ is So let's take Christ out of the picture and replace it with a

God. We'll just say God don't have to be very dogmatic about what religion we believe in so put

God there and I'll be you should be fine and Satisfied people for a little while I say, okay, that's more acceptable to us unnamed

God we can all come under But that didn't last long either because there are religions that don't believe in God that Hick believes in there are

Atheistic religions that is a religion whether you accept it or not. Let's say there is no God How can you put me under a

God and then there are a pantheistic religions? We'd say your God is a personal

God. I don't like that kind of God. I like an impersonal God How can you put me under a personal God? So he got into trouble with some of these religion and say, okay, let's

Expand our borders a little more. Let's replace God With the salvation because all religions move towards some direction, right?

So let's take Christ replaced with God take God replaced with salvation so all your religions take a person from somewhere and move him somewhere and there is some element of truth in that but so let's keep salvation as the center of all our religions and He thought he would get some traction finally, you know, there is no controversial issue at the center of God and and so Salvation the movement is what is essential and instead of God he replaces it with a terminology called the ultimate real

You know something so abstract. Nobody can find a fault with so you can replace the ultimate real with Anything that your system prefers?

And this is where the trouble really begins So what he says is, you know, I have to come up and define philosophically how this all meets together

So he says I I'm gonna pick Did I have this? I'm gonna pick

Kant's system Immanuel Kant said, you know there is a Phenomenal world the world that we see and there is a luminal world and basically what it means is it's the world that we see around us is the phenomena the actions the things that we see and experience and observe that we can relate to and then there

Is a nominal world a world that is invisible abstract incomprehensible, I think that's the better word incomprehensible that is above and Kant by the way,

Kant is not right so But that is the world philosophy

So he picks that philosophy and says just like Kant said phenomenal and nominal in the religions

All our religions are in the phenomenal world. You know, we are experiencing things you see

Christ It's like a blind five blind men catching an elephant state elephant one cat catches the tail one guy catches the trunk

One guy catches the stomach. He thinks God is all these different things. So that's all in the numinal world You're experiencing different aspects of God, but the real

God is in the numinal world. Nobody can experience him and that's the

God that is common denominator to all and you can see how this movement slips from You know where we he thought he was a

Christian to now coming up with what I think is called a super religion because he Makes up another religion that he thinks includes all other religions for for one thing

Hick should be commended because well commended in a in a in one sense

Because after he did the Christian inclusivism, he tried very hard not to get any other religion pre -eminence

He tried not to put one religion above and then put other religions there So instead he comes up with his own religion the super religion that covers all religions under this umbrella

But the problem is even after he does all these things He's unable to keep

The various religions he's trying to placate and be tolerant of happy Can you think why?

Because he is now relegated every religion to be incomplete Every religion now according to Hick is in the

Phenomenal world they have absolutely no idea of the real God that is above there Although that is not the claim of any religion every single religion will claim ultimately to know this

True God in its own way what how would they define it? But according to Hick which is the logical conclusion of pluralism?

Nobody can know this truth So he says that all you guys are wrong.

And so everybody now hates Hick And I mean that's sad But that is true because this guy has done

I think the pluralists of favor by opening their eyes to say what exactly it means to say all roads lead to Whatever because there is no

God there and Hick has now in trying to explain this Seen the logical error of such a viewpoint because everything can't be true at the same time

I mean sad for Hick at least in one point realize that there are some religions that are false

He looked at the cults that killed all their people and say that can't be true He had enough moral sense.

Although there is no basis for why he is moral to reject some of those false religions and Okay, let's actually go down move on so this is this is basically the sense in which you need to understand pluralism

It is a very sad system like Casey said it's come so subtly that most people take it for granted But it's logical error is so horrendous that nobody would accept it if they knew what it leads to in the end

And I want you to think about tolerance as well today the world most people think tolerant means to accept people

What they really mean is you have to accept people's wrong beliefs You need to say that that wrong belief is true for you to be tolerant of them

That is not the definition of tolerance Christians of all people should be the most tolerant

Because of all the reasons I've said before of people of their error of being able to love people even when they are

Rebelling and running away from God, but Christians of all the people will be the most Exclusivist because they know the truth that God has revealed in their heart and they cannot compromise the truth and you can see why as you see the downhill path of Pluralism And that's very sad

Affirmation of error, it's like telling my little child who's going and burning his hand just continue to do it or you know

Jumping into a well at least burning a hand it will learn again, but if it's going to jump into a well As I say keep keep doing otherwise they'll put me in jail

But let's now switch gears. I'm sorry. We are out of time. I'll try to rush through this What is the response?

You and I who have the truth of the gospel should be eternally grateful to a

God for many things But one thing is if he did not open our eyes. We would not even know that we are deceived in the system

We would not have the reason to find the conclusion of this error that we are in until it is too late

And you are facing the wrath of God at after the judgment, but the Bible declares

Objectively what is true? So the Bible says there are some things which are true and some things which contradict that contradicts them are false and So there is what is right?

And what is wrong and then and this God or the ultimate real that he wants to ultimately bow down to the

Bible declares that this is a personal God a God who Loves and set his who created us a creator

God who has set his affection upon us And he is asking for our love in response, and we can only love him if he would

Draw us toward him and this is an infinite God unlike some of the gods that are little gods running around in the world he is totally powerful totally good totally loving and that's

Unless God had revealed it to us through the scriptures we in our own reason especially as fallen man

Will not be able to know this God of the Bible And then of course it has to be through the work of Jesus Christ We know that in Christ God Reconciled this world to himself the world that was in rebellion unaware of its creator

Not I have to rephrase that the Bible says that the world does know God But it suppresses the truth in unrighteousness and therefore has come to a point where it does not recognize the lordship of its

God and we Declare that God through Jesus Christ to the world now as you climb up the ladder of truth

So you're talking now to this person who is in religious pluralism. What do you tell this person? You tell the gospel because ultimately it is a gospel that saves so what you do in evangelism

That's exactly what you do in apologetics. You don't come up with some other magical formula to zap these people out the gospel is the power of God unto salvation whether for the unexamined life or the hardened stone of a unbelief and God will use it, but once you have presented the gospel you can talk to that person.

He thinks he's very reasonable Can the truth contradict itself? If the

Bible is true other religions must be false but if the other religion is true it must account for reality what it observes and It should not contradict its own presuppositions every single religion every single system that is man -made and under the influence of the devil is both self contradictory which is inconsistent and unable to account for reality

I Will leave it at that those of you who are familiar with your different systems

You will know what I'm talking about whether it is pantheism or atheism I mean naturalism, which is the most predominant view in the world today is

Extremely sad. I mean if you just follow the logical conclusion of religious pluralism likewise for naturalism you can't answer why for anything you just have to say chance time and matter

I Believe in the God of chance because you cannot even know without In naturalism, why do you have reason?

Bible says there is a personal God a rational God who created a rational human being in his image who can understand the things of God because God has revealed

It to him and therefore there is reason Why do you have reason? I mean, that's why the all the philosophical systems because people say

I think therefore I am I am I Am therefore I think I I I don't know what

I'm saying, but it is true that skepticism because you you you don't really have a basis for your thought and Sadly, that's the conclusion.

Although people will not recognize us unless the gospel shines the light in their heart I Think we should conclude now

I'm sure in so if you're interested go to the apologetics class you'll learn more Is there any questions before we close?

Let's pray dear

God our Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for Revealing yourself to us

Though we did not deserve your love in your goodness and in your mercy

And in your tender love you have chosen to set your affection upon us

We thank you that despite the great cost Of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross you ordained his death

On our behalf that we could be reconciled to you We love you, and we thank you for this great goodness

And Lord, I pray for every single one of us here this morning as we meet people who are caught up in these false systems

Give us Lord the grace the wisdom and the love to proclaim the truth

To these people that are in our lives And we pray that you would do your work your miraculous work of salvation in the hearts and lives the people around us today

We know that these people are hurting in Their lives we know that these people are going through much

Without a true knowledge of your goodness, and we just pray that you would