Are We All Children of the Same God?

          I am a conservative Christian and Republican, and I will be voting for Mitt
     Romney in the presidential election.  He represents my political and moral views
     much better than our current president.

          However, Mr. Romney said something during the debate on Wednesday with
     which I totally disagree.  He said, "We're a nation that believes that we're all child-
     ren of the same God."

          All of us?   Christians, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc. all worship the
     same god?  I seem to recall George Bush made a similar statement once.  Is this
     biblical?

          The answer is no.

          In fact, the Bible tells us that God gives only those who receive Jesus Christ as
     Savior the right to be called His children.

                                     "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed
                                        in his name, he gave the right to become children of
                                       God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of
                                       human decision, or a husband's will, but born
                                       of God."
                                                                                     John 1:12-13


          Becoming a member of God's family is totally by grace alone, which is a gift
     of God.  It is not based on anything a person achieves on his own.

                                     "For it is by grace you have been saved,
                                      through faith -- and this not from your-
                                      selves, it is the gift of God -- not by
                                      works, so that no one can boast."
                                                                                  Ephesians 2:8-9


          Those in the world who are not given this gift of grace through faith are not
     God's children.  They don't know him.

                                     "How great is the love the Father has lavished
                                      on us (his children through faith), that we
                                      should be called children of God.  And that is
                                      what we are!  The reason the world does not
                                      know us is that it did not know him."
                                                                                    1 John 3:1
                                                                                  


         
                                                               **********

          Charles Spurgeon wrote about the Fatherhood of God:

                        "Believe the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God to his people.
                         Abhor the doctrine of the universal Fatherhood of God, for
                         it is a lie and a deep deception.

                        "It stabs at the heart, first, of the doctrine of adoption, which
                         is taught in  Scripture, for how can God adopt men if they
                         are his children already?"

               (' ... we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
                 inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
                 redemption of our bodies'   Romans 8:23).

          Spurgeon continues:

                        "In the second place, it stabs at the heart of regeneration,
                         which is certainly taught in the Word of God.  Now it is
                         by regeneration and faith that we have become the child-
                         ren of God, but how can that be if we are the children of
                         of God already?"


               ('According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again
                 to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
                 the dead ...'     1 Peter 1:3b).


          Spurgeon's final comments on the Fatherhood of God:

                        "How can God give to men the power to become his
                         sons if they have it already?
                         Believe not that lie of the devil, but believe this
                         truth of God, and all who are by living faith in Christ
                         may rejoice in the Fatherhood of God."


          The Bible teaches that there is only one God.  The God of Scripture.

                             "I am God, and there is no other;
                              I am God, and there is none like
                              me."
                                                           Isaiah 46:9b

                             "For who is God besides the LORD?"
                                                          Psalm 18:31a

          There is only one God, and only those who have been regenerated by
     God's Holy Spirit, and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are given
     the right to be called children of God.