Many of us know that Abraham had a son named Isaac from his wife Sarah.  Some know that Abraham had a son named Ishmael from his concubine Hagar.  Few realize that Abraham also had a wife named Keturah who bore him 6 sons.  While the Abrahamic covenant promised a special blessing to Isaac and a general blessing to all of the families of the earth, God has not forgotten his promise to bless all of Abraham’s children and their seed.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Gen 17:2  And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

Gen 17:3  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

Gen 17:5  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

Gen 21:1  And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

Gen 21:2  For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Gen 21:3  And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

Gen 21:4  And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Gen 21:5  And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

Gen 21:6  And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

Gen 21:7  And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

Gen 21:8  And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Gen 21:9  And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

Gen 21:10  Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

Gen 21:11  And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

Gen 21:12  And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Gen 21:13  And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

Gen 21:14  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Gen 21:15  And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

Gen 21:16  And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

Gen 21:17  And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Gen 21:18  Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

Gen 21:19  And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

Gen 21:20  And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

Gen 25:1  Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

Gen 25:2  And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

Gen 25:3  And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

Gen 25:4  And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

Gen 25:6  But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

Because God promised to bless all of the seed of Abraham does that mean that they also receive salvation just because they are Abraham’s heirs?

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  Again, is John saying that there is one path to salvation or many paths?

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1Ti 2:6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Is Paul saying here that there is one path to salvation or many paths?

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19 says that we have a choice.  Those who make the choice to repent and believe in the salvation of Jesus Christ that He offers will not be condemned.  Those who do not make that choice will be condemned.  Is Jesus saying here that there is one way to be saved or many paths to salvation?

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  Is Paul saying here that there is one way to be saved or many paths?

If you are keeping tabs on the news world wide of Jesus appearing to Muslims in dreams and asking them to repent and serve Him or providing great healing miracles through evangelists to prove that he is real, the following headlines should not come to you as a surprise:

MUSLIMS IN MEDIA STATISTICS

Al-Jazeerah: 6 Million Muslims convert to Christianity in Africa alone each year

Posted on December 14, 2012 by ADMIN

Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries sees thousands of African Muslims receiving Jesus and getting baptized.

“It’s probably the only place in the world where they are coming so quickly,” she said. “Many people are having dreams. They see Jesus appear to them. Probably half our pastors were leaders, imams in Moslem mosques. They were leaders in these mosques, now they’re pastors.”

Thousands-of-Muslims-See-Jesus-In-Dreams-and-Visions …

babatube.com/download.php?videoid…Muslims…Jesus…Dreams…

Thousands of Muslims See Jesus In Dreams and Visions and Are SAVED! …Unusual SIGNS Pointing to Jesus‘ SOON Return – (Prophecy In The News with LA Marzulli) … Ex-Hezbollah Iranian Muslim Saw Jesus and Jesus Said Who He Was – Afshin … Muslim Saw Jesus and Visited Heaven – Khalida Wukawitz / Sid Roth …

While we do hear of miracles or Jesus coming to people in dreams this is rare for the general population.  Such activity is common place with those of middle eastern descent, especially Muslims.  Why would this be?  First, scripture says that Jesus is the only way to receive salvation.  Second, God is keeping his promise to Abraham to bless his decedents. However, the only way to provide the blessing of salvation is for the descendants of Abraham to enter the fold through Jesus Christ. It seems to be fairly evident to me that Jesus is going the extra mile to visit the descendants of Abraham today to make sure they have the option of taking the fork in the path to Him rather than staying on the road that leads only to death and Hell.

Thank you for reading this paper. Please visit me at wayneoconner.com to listen to my songs or read my papers and poetry, both Christian and mundane.