Heaven or Hell?
I don’t know if anybody was listening to Sandy Beach on Wednesday – I just happened to turn it on coming back from working out and the topic of discussion was ‘Who is going to make it into heaven?’ and ‘Who won’t make it into Heaven?’ I just heard a couple of comments from people and of course Sandy was giving his thoughts about it all which mirror the majority of Americans. Over 70% of Americans believe in heaven and I think he said 50% believed in hell. The usual thought was that all religions lead to heaven. I heard a few call in from both sides of the fence. What it showed was the focus kept being placed on the religion you had adopted as yours – Catholic – Islam – Hindu – Protestant… A couple of things to remember when you are in a conversation about who is going to heaven and or hell – be gracious, don’t be quick to judge someone to hell. None of us know the heart of people especially at the point of death.
Here is the truth based on what I see in God’s word – there will be no Catholic’s – No Muslim – No Hindu – No Baptist – No Methodist… in heaven only those who entered into a relationship (not a religion) with Jesus Christ – repenting of their independence/sin and acknowledge their need of a Savior – from what Jesus said to Nicodemus (a very righteous and religious man) one night – a person must be ‘born again.’
Born again is the term Jesus chose to use – not a religious group – Jesus went on to say that He was The Way The Truth The Life and NO man could go to(heaven) the Father (God) except through Him – accepting Him as the Son of God – Savior of the world.
Radical statements – he said it to a bunch of very good people but their conduct held no sway with Him or the Father – one day we ALL will be held accountable for what we did or did not do in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
A little reminder though – Jesus was RIGHT but He said it with love and compassion to the world He was trying to reach – that would be good for us to remember – you might be RIGHT but say it with love and compassion!
