IS PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY AN AUTOMATIC TICKET TO ENTER HEAVEN?

Amongst some people who profess Christianity, there is a false doctrine of eternal security that submits that someone who is saved will automatically make heaven regardless of how the person lives his or her life afterwards.

For emphasis sake, a saved person in Christendom is someone who genuinely repents of evil and wrong doing, believes that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for sins and accepts the Lordship of Jesus Christ as Master and Saviour of the person’s life and is now a new creature guided by the power of God’s Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What this means is that there should be a visible transformation both inwardly and outwardly in the person’s way of life that reflects the teachings of Jesus Christ as given on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 -6). Anything short of this is mere hypocrisy.

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Christ, who is the visible likeness of the invisible God as Scripture tells us in Colossians 1:15, is Holy. There cannot be a double standard when it comes to professing one’s faith as a Christian. It is either you are for Jesus Christ or you are against Him in everything that concerns you.

Jesus says in the Holy Bible in Luke 6:46-49, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,” and yet don’t do what I tell you? Anyone who comes to me and listens to my Words and obeys them – I will show you what he is like. He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock.

The river overflowed and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But anyone who hears my Words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once – and what a terrible crash that was!”

As a Christian, you cannot be a good person in Church and a bad person outside where you feel no one sees you. God is clear when He says in Jeremiah 23:23-24, “I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only. No one can hide where I cannot see them. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth?

A Christian cannot be holy in Church and then be a sinner outside. The angels of God are recording everything everyone is doing and these very acts would be used to determine who goes into heaven for eternal life or who goes to hell for eternal damnation and torture.

A Christian should not be found committing whatever a human being considers the smallest of sin because the  bible says in 1 John 5:17, “All wrongdoing is sin.” Every form of evil, deception, lies, truancy, hatred, bitterness, resentment, stealing is sin because it is wrong doing.

Contrary to some wrong doctrines out there, there is no large sin or small sin as every wrong doing is sin. 1 John 5:18 states “We know that no child of God keeps on sinning, for the Son of God keeps him safe, and the evil one (satan, devil) cannot harm him.”

It is also written in 1 John 3:7-10, Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. Whoever continues to sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the devil had done.

Whoever is a child of God does not continue to sin, for God’s very nature is in him; and because God’s very nature is in him; and because God is his Father, he cannot continue to sin. This is the clear difference between God’s children and the devil’s children: anyone who does not do what is right or does not love his brother is NOT God’s child.

Dear friend, it is very clear from these scripture passages that a Christian, a true child of God, obeys Jesus’ commands and lives a life that pleases God, NOT a double life that would end the person eternal damnation in hell fire if the person dies without genuine repentance.

So what makes people to sin? Our Lord Jesus Christ answers this question in Mark 7:20-23 “It is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. For from the inside, from a person’s heart, comes the evil ideas which lead him to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride and folly – all these evil things come from inside a person and makes him unclean.”

If you say you are a Christian and the above scripture describes your lifestyle, Jesus is calling you today to stop defiling yourself, repent, and turn to Him genuinely so He can save you. It is also written in the bible book of James 1:12-15 Happy is the person who remains faithful under trials, because when he succeeds in passing such a test, he will receive as his reward the life which God has promised to those who love Him.

If a person is tempted by such trials, he must not say “This temptation comes from God.” 

For God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But a person is tempted when he is drawn away and trapped by his own evil desire. Then his evil desire conceives and gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Dear friend, from what we have seen today in Sacred Scripture, it is clear that a Christian should NOT be found living a double life of righteousness in Church and unrighteousness elsewhere. A Christian should NOT be someone who steals, tells lies, fornicates, commits adultery, cheats, gossips, slanders, hates, resents, castigates or engages in any kind of evil act.

A Christian is NOT someone who is racist, believes in social class or status, looks down on the less privileged, is arrogant, abuses or insults others for every offence no matter how little, is unforgiving no matter the pleas to forgive, cheats in school examinations, etc etc.

We have seen that everyone one including Christians face temptations every day BUT the DECISION to commit sin or not comes from inside a person’s heart and that is why every single person including Christians MUST account for their lives on earth once they die and face eternity.

As it is written in 2 Peter 2:20-22, “If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in a worse state at the end than they were at the beginning.

It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command given them. What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: “A dog goes back to what it has vomited” and “A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.”

This Scripture verse clearly refers to back-slidden Christians. A lot of Christians whom the Lord Jesus Christ has shown the realities of heaven and hell have testified to that fact that former Christians who died unrepentant and are now in hell are being tortured the most by satan and his demons.

The reason their torture is more is because they knew the ways of God initially, obeyed His commands, taught others to do same and fought against the kingdom of satan, demons and darkness and conquered it severally but unfortunately back slid and committed sin, died in it and went to eternal damnation in hell where satan is very angry at them and will torture them mercilessly for fighting him initially.

Dear friend, satan is very wicked and deceitful. Anyone including a Christian here on earth that continuously disobeys God’s command makes satan very happy because that is what satan wants – for souls and especially Christians to die in sin and perish in hell with him.

The question to ask yourself now as you read this is, why risk my life here on earth by living in sin, making satan happy and then dying to be tortured by the same satan in hell and spend eternity there? Some people don’t believe there is heaven or hell; they believe life ends here and so they want to enjoy themselves in sin and then die into inexistence.

The truth is, no matter how long we spend here on earth, there is a life after death where we will spend eternity and where our lives here on earth would determine where eternity is spent - either with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in heaven or is spent with satan in hell fire – eternal damnation.

I want you to think deeply about this Scripture reading in Psalm 9:17 “Death is the destiny of all the wicked, of all those who reject God.”

If everyone in this world is destined to die, it means this scripture passage has a deep meaning that should speak to everyone who is sincerely searching for God. Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of the world is the ONLY way to God (John 14:6; Acts 4:11-12). There is no other way no matter what anyone else says. Jesus, alone, is the way to God because God Himself has made it that way and whatever God does or says on any matter is final.

Dear friend, I beg you in God’s name, please turn today to Jesus Christ and accept Him wholeheartedly as Lord and Saviour of your life. That is true freedom for as Jesus has said in John 8:31-32, “if you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  

Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When Judgement Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord!          In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’

Christians, please let us all be careful and do God’s will DILIGENTLY so we will not regret as the Lord Jesus Christ has declared here. Love God above all things and love your neighbour as yourself in WORD and in DEED.

God bless you mightily as you heed His word today, obey, act on it and share with others in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.