Dr Paul Allen

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." ( Acts 4:12 ) There are many famous names in the history of religious thought--names such as Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius , Joseph Smith , among a host of others. Each has a multitude of followers who pay homage to his name. But there is only one name that saves eternally, the Lord Jesus Christ . The words of our text were spoken by the apostle Peter . In his epistle, John also stresses this fact: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" ( 1 John 5:12 ). The apostle Paul wrote that all those "that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" ( 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 ). This exclusivity necessarily results from the fact that there is only one God and Creator of all men, and that all men have rebelled a...

US troops in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Our missionaries have remained with us; we will stand by them, and live or die together." Meng Ch'ang-ch'un and the other Chinese pastors at Pao- ting Fu were united in their determination. The Boxer Rebellion , an angry reaction against western interference in China , raged across China. The government encouraged lawless bands to kill all foreigners and those who had adopted their ways, especially Christians . Thousands of people died. Meng was a direct descendant of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius . He was attending a conference in T'ung Chow when the news came that the Boxers had destroyed the railroad to Pao-ting Fu and cut communications. Meng could have fled to nearby Peking where foreign embassies offered some protection; many other Christians did. But he remembered the missionaries who remained behind. It seemed to him that his honor as a Chinese called him to Pa...