There is a strange rift among people of faith. It has to do with heaven…what heaven is, how to get there, and who will be allowed in. If there was ever an answer that shouldn’t be confusing, it’s this. The Bible is crystal clear about heaven. There is no ambiguity, yet so many people seem confused, lost, and consumed by strange notions.
Satan is full of lies, thinly masked ideas that lead people away (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The truth is: Satan wants you to believe there is no knowable “truth” at all. In our fallen world, it’s human nature to try and justify our own ideas. Some people reassure themselves by holding onto the notion that nobody really has any knowledge or wisdom. This is a dangerous path.
If we’re not careful, our fallen nature can make stroking our own egos a lifestyle, and eventually a personal belief system. By telling ourselves that the answer is somewhat unknowable, we can substitute our own ideas about most anything spiritual. Eventually, we distance ourselves from God more and more.
Be careful what lies you tell yourself. Over the years, you will come to beleive them!
Sadly, some people start to stray in ways they hardly recognize. They might begin to call God “it” or “she” and edge away from Christ. They may begin to substitute “God” for “Love”, asking, “What would love do?” instead of “What does God want from me?” These are very different questions. God is all loving, but love isn’t God’s only nature, or sufficient to describe our Creator. By substituting the word “love” in God’s place, they make it sound sweet, even as they distance themselves from God more and more…and this slippery slope is particularly comforting because they get to imagine for themselves what “love” means and what “love” would do. It’s quite a lovely bed of arrogance and self-importance people come to create for themselves. Those who go down this path carve out a belief system that makes them into their own little gods, able to decide right and wrong for themselves, all the while distancing themselves from Christ and denying the true nature of God.
Eventually the truth becomes like a buffet. Lost souls wander the earth choosing to believe general revelation while rejecting special revelation…accepting God while rejecting Jesus…choosing a little of everything from all kinds of belief systems, all but assuring the damnation of their souls. They wander off on a path of their own making.
Make no mistake. Christ is the only lifeline lowered down from heaven. There is no other. The Bible makes it clear that nobody makes it to heaven except through Jesus Christ. Many people are afraid to believe that. Doing so feels like arrogance. After all, doesn’t that mean that everyone else goes somewhere else? It does. It’s not arrogance. It’s the Word of God.
Jesus came at a time when religions all over the world were leading people astray. He made it possible for us all to enter heaven by paying the price for our fallen nature, while showing us the way to live a life that pleases the Lord.
It was not a mistake that Christ’s life, teachings, and example were so public and well documented. He set in motion the mechanism by which anyone can be saved. So public is His message and example that the entire world counts the years since his death as the universal way to mark time. It’s not arrogant that others must convert to be saved. The way to Christ is universally available to anyone who seeks the truth (Matthew 7:7).
For those who want to claim Jesus wasn’t God, but a prophet instead, a reality check is in order. What kind of prophet would lie to the people by saying He was the son of God? What kind of prophet would lead people astray with lies and deception? What kind of prophet would falsely claim that the only way to heaven is through Him? What is a prophet if not one who is divinely chosen to spread the truth?
Saying Jesus was a prophet and that his words were untrue is like saying God chooses liars to lead his own people astray. It just doesn’t make sense. Fortunately, when we think about it critically, it becomes obvious. Jesus was no liar. He was no prophet either. He was the son of God, manifest as a man, to reconcile mankind and swing wide the gates of heaven for God’s creation.
The Bible is a highly scrutinized text, always under the prying eyes of skeptics. No other religion is as well documented nor do others stand up so well to scrutiny. The biblical texts are not hidden from you or the prying eyes of the world. Christ’s words have not been altered or misquoted.
The truth about Christ was written down by multiple authors, some even enemies of Christ, in unchanging text for you to see. Many books that don’t appear in the bible testify to the events of Christ’s life. Even the recently discovered Judas gospel, heretical as it might be, conceded Christ’s miracles and His identity. Many sources documented Jesus’s miracles before He was crucified alongside a public roadway on public display for all to see, so that there could be no question about his death.
After His death, Christ was seen by many different people three days later. Nobody documented that it didn’t happen, because such outlandish statements would have been immediately declared false by the multitudes who saw it with their own eyes. Men were willing to face death rather than deny what they saw. There is no figure in history so well documented as Jesus Christ, no book that has sold more copies than the Bible, and no truth more obvious than Christ. The beauty of Christ’s story is that it all happened openly, on public display, so that nobody could credibly say it didn’t happen.
Christ is risen. The evidence is clear. Today, we regularly sentence people to death with far less evidence. There can be little doubt for those who choose to set their own ego aside and believe the evidence that still exists for all to see. Nobody else needs to interpret for you what you can read for yourself. Jesus pronounced that He was the Door to Heaven (John 10:9), and in John 14:6, He explained: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but though Me.” The answer is clear. Christ is the only answer. Don’t distance yourself.
Take the lifeline before it’s too late.