I appreciate so much that you too love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God, His Father. In your letter you asked no specific questions, but rather gave a couple of comments that I would like to respond to.

You said, "I am sure that as our God is a God of variety He accepts all our true worship no matter how it is offered." I don’t fault your perspective at all because I think it is very generous of you to want to include the faith and worship of all in whatever manner they wish as being acceptable to our Father in Heaven. I know that only our Father in Heaven can know the hearts of men, so we really cannot judge anyone for whatever way they choose to worship. But, there are two or three perspectives that I would like to offer. First, when Paul was teaching the Ephesians, he invited them to be more unified in their belief and understanding. He reminded them that there is "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." (Ephesians 4:5)

God is the creator of the world and all things therein. He created this great variety of things that make up the face of the earth and this great variety of people who inhabit the earth. He is not a God of variety, in that anything and all things are true, but specifically He is a God of order. He, His Son, the apostles, and the prophets teach that order. If it were not so, He would be more of a "God of chaos" than a God of order. There is a oneness and an absoluteness required of all those who claim to be disciples of Christ. For instance, as we examine John chapter 17, it is here that the Savior, kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, asks His Father to make all those who would ever hear and believe the words of His apostles to become one. What kind of oneness would that be? Clearly he’s not asking that all the countless millions of Christian believers over the centuries would be one person, but rather that they would be one in purpose.

This oneness suggests that there are specific things that we all must be doing, not merely selecting some item from "the menu of Christianity", but some specific things that are required of us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Look in Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23, where the Savior himself says,
"Not everyone that sayeth unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

He goes on to say,
"Many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

There are probably many other scriptures to use in justifying this perspective. It seems simple to me that God, who is a God of order, asks all of us to be one and suggests that there are specific things that we can do, not just what we would like to do or not just what we think is best. He expects us to learn His will and follow through on those specifics.

These are eternal truths. These are the principles that never change. These are things as they really are. Thank you for letting me share my perspective.

Sincerely,

Donny Osmond


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