Doing Good Doesn’t Get You Into Heaven

[Yves Johnson]

Recently Pope Francis stated “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Chris....”

I hope Pope Francis’ words were taken out of context.  For now, I’m writing from the position that the Pope deliberately misled people into thinking they don’t have to accept Christ in order to go to heaven.  Heaven is the eternal destination of Christians.  It’s not a Time Share or Resort that you can call up.  Nor is it something you can purchase from Living Social!

As Christians, we should not…no, make that, we must not dilute the word of God in order to appeal to “itching ears.”  We must remember that there is only one way to heaven.  Well, that’s what Jesus said.  If you are a follower of Christ…you should follow His teachings and not just the ones you like.  Christianity is an all or none lifestyle.

I try to encourage believers to stand on the word of God in my articles, sermons, my current book and my upcoming books.  Why?  Simple. The bible is our standard.  We shouldn’t change what it says in order to accommodate what secular society believes it should say.

What’s your takeaway.  Continue to read the Scriptures.  This will help you to easily identify misleading or misrepresentation of Scripture.  Studying the Scripture will strengthen your Christian walk.  If you have only read a few paragraphs in the bible…simply read a few more verses.  The goal of reading the entire bible (the whole counsel of God) can seem a bit intimidating.  As the old saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  That was the way I did it.  You’ll be amazed at what you learn.  If you’re like me, you’ll realize that some of the things you thought was true about the bible and our Christian values are wrong.  Also, you’ll learn why we believe what we believe.  You’ll love the growth you see in your life.

One other thing about the Pope’s words.  We want people to learn of the great life in Christ we have.  However, we don’t want to alter our beliefs in order to entice people to converting to Christianity.  I do not believe we should make the Word more palatable in order convince an unbeliever to learn about Christ.  The Christian life isn’t always easy.  I believe we will see a distinct hatred towards Christians in the coming years.  This will mean that we will be persecuted for our beliefs.  In light of that, we still must do what Jesus commanded us to do. Jesus told us to go and make disciples (Look at the Great Commission).  He didn’t tell them (us) to trick people into Christianity. Now check this out: If you take the text out of context, you’re left with nothing but a con.  We do not con people into Christianity.  Remember, we are talking about eternal consequences.

The bible is our standard.  We should follow “Sola Scriptura” (The Scripture only) rather than popular opinion (“Crazi Um Notta Followa).  Ok, the Crazi Um Notta Followa isn’t Latin. I just made it up like people who make up things that aren’t true about Christianity.  Follow Christ.  Follow the Scripture.  challenge and check on what our religious leaders, including me, are writing and saying.  We need all Christians to be as knowledgable and dedicated to the Christian life as possible.

I’ll update this blog entry when I finally find the video of his talk.

Keep the faith my friend…the world needs you…even if they don’t know it yet!