For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

1 Corinthians 4:20

Without a demonstration of power, all ‘religions’ in the world have equal footing.

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age religion, whatever you call it; when religions are compared to each other by their words, you really can just say you’re picking between apples and oranges. In addition, some have even drawn similarities and, for purposes of the peace of their own mind, melded them into one. But what truly separates one above the rest is the ability for the one to demonstrate itself to be supernaturally tied with the supernatural God.

Without a demonstration of the supernatural, all we have are different expressions or words of perhaps the same thing. And as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am firm on the position that, no, we are not the same thing. And no, we are not all the ‘real thing’. And no, we are not all roads that lead eventually to the same place. We are not 6 billion universes walking around on planet earth, we share one universe, bounded by strict universal truths.

Christianity does not set itself part by having the strongest historicity (though it does). It does not set itself part by being the most explanatory for the world we live in (though it does). It does not set itself apart because it is the most well organized, or our churches are more numerous, or we have more followers, or because our scriptures have been best preserved, though we are all those things.

Christianity sets itself apart from the gods of this earth in the way that the God of the Old Testament set Himself apart from them: because his people would demonstrate his very power, strength, and wonders.

The pagan nations all feared the God of Moses because they heard of how He delivered them with fire, hail, control of nature, deaths of firstborn, and the parting of the sea. The prophets of Baal in 1 Kings, ran from the presence of Elijah, as God demonstrated that only through his prophets, would he do such a miraculous thing as light sacrifices on fire without fire. The Romans and the Jews feared the Apostle Paul because he went from town to town, not only preaching the gospel with power, but at his hands, the sick were healed, the lame were walking, the blind could see, and snakes and enemies could not hurt him.

We, as Christians, have been given the authority to do things that no other religion can. We demonstrate that we are the true children of God because we do things only our Father in heaven can do. This should remind us of how important it is for believers to be living the Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit, the enabler of the supernatural power in and through us.

And when Christianity is lived without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are just like the rest of the religions of this earth- a collection of words.