I am sure you have seen it on a television interview at one time or another. The interviewer asks the Christian guest, ‘Do you believe there is only one way into heaven?’ The guest either has to say, ‘Yes, according to the Bible, there is only one way into heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ.’ Or, the guest has to hum haw around and say something that will not really deny the faith, but still keep him/her out of hot water.
I could understand people being angry if Jesus said He is the only way into heaven, and only a few are invited. But instead He says EVERYONE is invited. Now where is the crime in that?
I could understand if Jesus promised some an entry through the front door to be joint heirs with Jesus Himself, and others an entry through the servants’ entrance to be servants for eternity. (Some religions offer eternal servitude. Other religions offer entrance to paradise based on the works of someone else.)
I could understand their anger if Jesus gave first class transportation to some and back seat of the bus transportation to others.
What Jesus offers is:
Free will – you get to chose Him or reject Him. There are consequences to either choice, but the choice belongs to the individual. Any ‘forced conversion’ by so called Christians is totally opposed to the teachings of Christ.
Entrance through the front door. The followers of Jesus get to walk right in through the front door of heaven. That means every one of them. They are citizens of heaven with all the rights and privileges that go along with that.
First class transportation to heaven is provided free of charge. When the children of God die, their souls are carried to heaven. No one has to wander in darkness and find his or her own way.
Jesus is the owner of heaven. He made it a perfect place with one door that allows entrance. It is where He lives. Right now He is preparing additional accommodations for all those who believe in Him.
What human has the right to tell other human being who they must allow entrance into their homes. Picture this. ___________ (you fill in the blank) tells you to open your home to three homeless people. It is your home. You own it free and clear. Maybe you even built it from the foundation up with your own two hands. Who has the right to tell you who may and may not enter your home. And, if you invite someone in, you want them to come through the entrance you designate. Plus, whoever you invite into your home would probably be insulted if you told them to come in through the laundry room or kitchen entrance.
So Christian, don’t make excuses or apologize because there is only one way into the place Jesus Christ calls heaven. One way is plenty for everyone who chooses that place as their eternal home. Besides that, offering a bunch of different ways into the same place is for liars. If you go to the heaven of Jesus Christ, you will go by Him, and you will know exactly where you are going.
Now, why would anyone want a different way into heaven? Could it be because they really don’t want to live there? If someone goes into a home uninvited, what reason do they have? Most likely, they are there to steal something. The very least is an invasion of privacy.
There are beings other than Jesus Christ who offer entrance into places they call ‘heaven’, ‘paradise’, or even something else. All these doors lead to the same place. It is a place apart from the God of the Bible and the attributes of His being. There is an old poem called ‘Dover Beach’. I memorized the entire poem years ago in high school for extra credit. I still remember some of the lines that go like this:
‘Ah love, let us be true to one another.
For the world which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither love nor joy nor light nor certitude nor peace nor help for pain.
And we are all here as on a darkling plane
Swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight
Where ignorant armies clash by night.’ (Matthew Arnold – 1867)
That pretty much sums up the false religions and belief systems of the world. They present themselves to be so wonderful as to be a land of dreams, filled with variety, beauty, and all things new.
When in reality they are nightmares, filled with ugliness, and the same old lie.
In any other god outside of the Triune God of the Bible, there is no love, no joy, no light, no certainty of anything, no peace, and no help for pain. The heart, mind, and often the physical body are continually caught up in ignorance, confusion, and war.
Never apologize for there being only one way into heaven. Remember, everyone is invited. There is room for everyone who will come.
And…… speaking of entrance to heaven, it will be so wonderful there that we can’t even comprehend the good things that Christ has for us there. But, at this point in time, we still live on earth in the hear and now. However, the wonder of Salvation by grace through faith is ours. As people saved by the blood of Jesus Christ:
We have access to the throne of God Almighty. We are invited to boldly approach the throne of God to find mercy to help when we need it!
We can enter through the front door! It is the palace of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, yet through prayer, we can spiritually go straight through the front gate. We can approach God directly. We do not have to go through any being other than Jesus Christ. We have an audience with the God of Creation simply by going to Him according to His instructions.
We have the King’s ear to listen to our petitions!
This privilege is available to listen to Jesus and follow His instructions:
‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.’ John 7:37
‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28
‘All that he Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37
So when people begin slamming Christianity and the one way into heaven, ask them for a better deal anywhere. I personally do not care to be ‘included’ in an ‘inclusive’ religious system that offers second class entrance into a place that religion calls heaven or paradise. I want the heaven of Jesus Christ. Christianity does not dispute the existence of places other than heaven where people will spend their eternity. It lumps them all into a place called hell which is a place of torment. I don’t know what sort of government will be in hell. I don’t know if different areas will be ruled by different beings. I don’t know the level of torment. I don’t know just how deep and black the darkness will be there. I do know it is incomprehensibly horrible. In the heaven of Jesus Christ, the citizens will be cleansed from their sins and made perfect. In any other place called ‘paradise’, or ‘heaven’, the inhabitants, the poor souls who dwell there eternally, will be unholy, unjustified, and filthy in mind and body for eternity.
I also know that no one has to go there. They have a choice. Christians need to tell people about that choice:
There is one way into heaven through Jesus Christ
Everyone has an invitation
Everyone who accepts the invitation which is engraved in the blood of the Lamb of God, is eternally secure.
The ultimate truth, the unalterable fact, that there is one way into heaven is clearly stated in John 14:6 which says, ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, buy by me.’ Ephesians 2:8-9 gives us further instructions. It says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
It is time for all Christians to unapologetically tell the world the unalterable fact that there is only one way into heaven. That way is through Jesus Christ. Everyone has an invitation. Everyone has a choice.
Barbara Henderson
(a short ‘aside’
• justified – ‘just as if I had never sinned’.
• Sin – ‘imperfect’. A very simplified and incomplete definition for ‘sin’ is ‘imperfect’. The sinner is imperfect in body, mind, soul, spirit, and reasoning abilities. They often do what they know to be wrong. If anyone cannot admit their imperfection, then they are delusional.
• John 1:9 says, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’)
If you would be of good service to the Lord today, remember to pray one for another.
I could understand people being angry if Jesus said He is the only way into heaven, and only a few are invited. But instead He says EVERYONE is invited. Now where is the crime in that?
I could understand if Jesus promised some an entry through the front door to be joint heirs with Jesus Himself, and others an entry through the servants’ entrance to be servants for eternity. (Some religions offer eternal servitude. Other religions offer entrance to paradise based on the works of someone else.)
I could understand their anger if Jesus gave first class transportation to some and back seat of the bus transportation to others.
What Jesus offers is:
Free will – you get to chose Him or reject Him. There are consequences to either choice, but the choice belongs to the individual. Any ‘forced conversion’ by so called Christians is totally opposed to the teachings of Christ.
Entrance through the front door. The followers of Jesus get to walk right in through the front door of heaven. That means every one of them. They are citizens of heaven with all the rights and privileges that go along with that.
First class transportation to heaven is provided free of charge. When the children of God die, their souls are carried to heaven. No one has to wander in darkness and find his or her own way.
Jesus is the owner of heaven. He made it a perfect place with one door that allows entrance. It is where He lives. Right now He is preparing additional accommodations for all those who believe in Him.
What human has the right to tell other human being who they must allow entrance into their homes. Picture this. ___________ (you fill in the blank) tells you to open your home to three homeless people. It is your home. You own it free and clear. Maybe you even built it from the foundation up with your own two hands. Who has the right to tell you who may and may not enter your home. And, if you invite someone in, you want them to come through the entrance you designate. Plus, whoever you invite into your home would probably be insulted if you told them to come in through the laundry room or kitchen entrance.
So Christian, don’t make excuses or apologize because there is only one way into the place Jesus Christ calls heaven. One way is plenty for everyone who chooses that place as their eternal home. Besides that, offering a bunch of different ways into the same place is for liars. If you go to the heaven of Jesus Christ, you will go by Him, and you will know exactly where you are going.
Now, why would anyone want a different way into heaven? Could it be because they really don’t want to live there? If someone goes into a home uninvited, what reason do they have? Most likely, they are there to steal something. The very least is an invasion of privacy.
There are beings other than Jesus Christ who offer entrance into places they call ‘heaven’, ‘paradise’, or even something else. All these doors lead to the same place. It is a place apart from the God of the Bible and the attributes of His being. There is an old poem called ‘Dover Beach’. I memorized the entire poem years ago in high school for extra credit. I still remember some of the lines that go like this:
‘Ah love, let us be true to one another.
For the world which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither love nor joy nor light nor certitude nor peace nor help for pain.
And we are all here as on a darkling plane
Swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight
Where ignorant armies clash by night.’ (Matthew Arnold – 1867)
That pretty much sums up the false religions and belief systems of the world. They present themselves to be so wonderful as to be a land of dreams, filled with variety, beauty, and all things new.
When in reality they are nightmares, filled with ugliness, and the same old lie.
In any other god outside of the Triune God of the Bible, there is no love, no joy, no light, no certainty of anything, no peace, and no help for pain. The heart, mind, and often the physical body are continually caught up in ignorance, confusion, and war.
Never apologize for there being only one way into heaven. Remember, everyone is invited. There is room for everyone who will come.
And…… speaking of entrance to heaven, it will be so wonderful there that we can’t even comprehend the good things that Christ has for us there. But, at this point in time, we still live on earth in the hear and now. However, the wonder of Salvation by grace through faith is ours. As people saved by the blood of Jesus Christ:
We have access to the throne of God Almighty. We are invited to boldly approach the throne of God to find mercy to help when we need it!
We can enter through the front door! It is the palace of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, yet through prayer, we can spiritually go straight through the front gate. We can approach God directly. We do not have to go through any being other than Jesus Christ. We have an audience with the God of Creation simply by going to Him according to His instructions.
We have the King’s ear to listen to our petitions!
This privilege is available to listen to Jesus and follow His instructions:
‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.’ John 7:37
‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28
‘All that he Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37
So when people begin slamming Christianity and the one way into heaven, ask them for a better deal anywhere. I personally do not care to be ‘included’ in an ‘inclusive’ religious system that offers second class entrance into a place that religion calls heaven or paradise. I want the heaven of Jesus Christ. Christianity does not dispute the existence of places other than heaven where people will spend their eternity. It lumps them all into a place called hell which is a place of torment. I don’t know what sort of government will be in hell. I don’t know if different areas will be ruled by different beings. I don’t know the level of torment. I don’t know just how deep and black the darkness will be there. I do know it is incomprehensibly horrible. In the heaven of Jesus Christ, the citizens will be cleansed from their sins and made perfect. In any other place called ‘paradise’, or ‘heaven’, the inhabitants, the poor souls who dwell there eternally, will be unholy, unjustified, and filthy in mind and body for eternity.
I also know that no one has to go there. They have a choice. Christians need to tell people about that choice:
There is one way into heaven through Jesus Christ
Everyone has an invitation
Everyone who accepts the invitation which is engraved in the blood of the Lamb of God, is eternally secure.
The ultimate truth, the unalterable fact, that there is one way into heaven is clearly stated in John 14:6 which says, ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, buy by me.’ Ephesians 2:8-9 gives us further instructions. It says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
It is time for all Christians to unapologetically tell the world the unalterable fact that there is only one way into heaven. That way is through Jesus Christ. Everyone has an invitation. Everyone has a choice.
Barbara Henderson
(a short ‘aside’
• justified – ‘just as if I had never sinned’.
• Sin – ‘imperfect’. A very simplified and incomplete definition for ‘sin’ is ‘imperfect’. The sinner is imperfect in body, mind, soul, spirit, and reasoning abilities. They often do what they know to be wrong. If anyone cannot admit their imperfection, then they are delusional.
• John 1:9 says, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’)
If you would be of good service to the Lord today, remember to pray one for another.
