WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT HAVE NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL?

Many ask this question as an excuse to continue worshiping idols and ancestors or live in atheism. ''Take your Christianity back to Europe, we Africans only have heard of Christianity about 200 years ago! Where was your God for 1800 years?'' – I was told recently.

Someone else said to me, ''If you say that Jesus is the only way to heaven (Jn14:6), do you mean that our ancestors and so many that have never heard the Gospel will go to hell?''

ANSWER:

-God speaks in different way to human beings: the most common way God reveals Himself is through CREATION; Paul says in Romans chapter 1 that the power and eternal godhead of the Creator is seen through creation and if man still decides to worship creation: idols and ancestors, then he is without excuse; he who humbles himself before the Creator of the universe is assured salvation by grace through forgiveness of sins based on the sacrifice of Jesus, even if he never heard about Jesus; he who tries to earn salvation by merit or ignores the Creator cannot be saved; since in regards to creation you can't pay back the Creator for food, air, water, sun and so on, how can one try to pay for eternal life?

Acts14:17 he left not himself without witness (testimony), for he did us good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

Ps19:1 The heavens (universe) declare the glory of God; and the firmament (sky) shews his handywork.


-To ''WORSHIP THE CREATOR'' means to admit that the Creator has made all things, to honor Him, to thank Him, to submit to the Creator, to desire to know more about Him, to desire to know His will and to do His will at any cost; humility before God brings salvation and it results in worship;

-since the fall of Adam and Eve, man has a CONSCIENCE of good and evil; Rom2:15 explains that those that have never heard the Gospel will be judged according to their response to the voice of their conscience Rom1:19; however this judgment is not in regards to heaven or hell but in regards to amount of rewards in heaven or degrees of punishment in hell (1Cor3:10-15; Luke 12:47).
Salvation always was and always will be by grace, not by works Eph2:8-9, God doesn't change Heb13:8; the revelation of God to man increases from Genesis to Revelation but it does not change and it is not contradicting itself. See our message on 'Dispensations'.

-To those that worship the Creator through the testimony of the creation, God is faithful to give more specific revelation about Himself; there are many missionary stories of how preachers of the Gospel found tribal people that were worshiping the creator and were informed by God through dreams that He will send to them people with God's Book, the Bible (read ''Eternity in their hearts'' by Don Richardson); see also Cornelius in Acts 10 or 16:6-10; Gen20:11 Abraham found out that the people of Gerar believed in God and honored Him without a preacher sent from God; lately there are many Muslims that have received visions of Jesus and have become Christians

-If someone truly worships the creator of the universe, he will want to know more about Him and will receive the Gospel message if he hears it; if someone rejects the Gospel message, either he didn't understand it, either he didn't truly worship the Creator;
If someone understands clearly the Gospel but rejects it and still claims to believe in God, then his faith is vain: he believes in a god of his own imagination; because he has rejected the true God, Satan has further blinded his mind to believe a lie 2Cor4:4, 2Thes2:10-12

-CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF COMPREHENSION (age of accountability) and those that have MENTAL DISABILITIES are saved without needing to believe, as they don't have a capacity to believe or of making a decision to receive or reject the Creator: God is not unjust to them;
David knew that he will go to heaven and he knew that he will go to be with his dead child therefore he knew his dead child went to heaven (2Sam12:23)
Jesus said about children, ''for their is the kingdom of God...' Mat18:3; when a child grows up and starts to be able to understand the Gospel but rejects it, then he is responsible for his unbelief;

-GOD IS FAITHFUL TO OFFER TO EVERY HUMAN A CHANCE FOR SALVATION, so as to bring in His house people "from every tribe and language and people from every nation" (Rev5:9); to some God offers many chances and opportunities for salvation but they keep on rejecting God, while others get a more limited testimony from God but grab it instantly; in Isaiah 65 God stretches out His hands to rebellious people and reveals Himself to people that are not even looking for Him, because ''God desires that none would perish'' 2Pet3:9; God does not desire to send people to hell but He is forced to do so because of people's rebellious unbelief

-IN THE PERIOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT people were saved by grace through faith in God; they did not have a full understanding of who Jesus would be, JESUS WAS A MYSTERY KEPT SECRET until the appointed time, mystery that was slowly, gradually revealed by the prophets of the Old Testament and further revealed by Paul and the other apostles Mark4:11; Rom16:25; Eph3:3,4; 5:32; Col.1:26,27; 2:2; 4:3

-Jesus said in Jn14:6 ''I am the way, the truth and the life; nobody comes to the Father but through Me''; Jesus paid for the sins of all humans, however some have never heard a clear message about Jesus but God is not unjust to send them to hell; if they humble themselves before God admitting their bankruptcy and calling upon God's mercy, then God forgives their sins because of Jesus. Muslims and people from all other religions do not truly humble themselves before God: they preach a message of merit and works, and in fact many who call themselves Christians do the same;

-Some of the pharisees believed in Jesus secretly but did not confess Jesus publicly because of fear of persecution Jn12:42,43; that is the case for many Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists (see on youtube video “Expelled – no intelligence allowed”).
Some know very well about Jesus but do not accept Him as Savior because some sin they embrace keeps them away.

Do not look for an excuse to avoid the Gospel message. You are responsible to respond to God's call. You see the loving hand of God in creation. You may even have heard the Gospel message: the good news that Jesus died to pay for your sins and by simply accepting his sacrifice on your behalf your sins are forgiven and you will enjoy eternity in God's presence, instead of eternity without God. It takes a second to put your trust in Jesus, even just before your last breath but don't risk waiting that long: you could die suddenly with no more chance to accept Jesus!