Everyone goes to Heaven

A few years ago, Ruth and I spent the winter in the West Indies, on the island of Trinidad. The island is predominantly Hindu with the balance being Muslim and Christian in its various forms. I spent a lot of time witnessing to Hindus but found it difficult because they subscribe to the notion that there ar many roads leading to heaven, they all, however, end at the same destination and that is a place called heaven. Having a multitude of gods from which to choose you would naturally come to the same conclusion. But doesn’t Christianity teach the same thing? All variations of Christianity promise heaven as our final home. If you have gone to a Christian funeral lately you would have noticed that the pastor spends most of his eulogy telling the listeners that this person is in a better place, a place of eternal ecstasy. It makes no difference that this person that they have gathered together to honor held no regard whatsoever for the Lord or even made an attempt to serve Him. Every funeral promises that same destination. Even so, it is my belief that everyone still goes to heaven. Now hold on before you hit the little x in the upper right hand corner of your screen and let me qualify my statement. In Revelation chapter 20 we get a glimpse of the great white throne in HEAVEN where God is judging the inhabitants of the earth. They all are standing before Him in HEAVEN. Let’s look in at what will occur. Verse 11 says, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide..” It looks like these folks are somewhat ashamed to stand before their creator and give an account of their lives. Verse 12 continues, ”I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.” Verse 13, “The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds.” Verse 14, “Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.” Verse 15, finishes the account, “And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Herein lies the catch, everyone indeed does go to Heaven, BUT, this is critical, not everyone gets to stay. Only those whose names are recorded in the Book of Life are allowed to stay. I would be remiss if I didn’t address the question, “How do I get to stay, since I too will one day stand before God in Heaven? Let’s look at another of John’s writings. John chapter one verses 12 and 13 says, “But to all who believed and accepted Him, (Notice it is in the past tense) he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” If we jump ahead into John chapter 3, verse 3, Jesus tells a man by the name of Nicodemus how he can enter God’s kingdom. “Jesus said, I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, (or born from above), you cannot see the kingdom of God. There we have it, everyone does indeed go to Heaven, but not everyone gets to stay. It is my hope that you will be on the winning side and get to stay.

Why doesn't God always answer prayers?

Why doesn’t God always answer prayers? “And this is the confidence that we have in him, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” IJohn 5:14-15 Here we have a promise that God not only hears our prayers but answers the ones that are according to his will. Why then are there unanswered prayers that seemingly are according to his will? Are these unanswered prayers God’s fault or ours? Paul tells us that he had an unanswered prayer and it was for a reason. “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” 2Cor.12:7 The Lord apparently refused to answer Paul’s prayer for a good reason. One of the most deadly and dangerous sins is pride. It caused the down fall of Lucifer. Before his fall Lucifer was the most beautiful and most anointed of all the angels, but his heart was filled with pride. His conceit and self-worship caused him to be cast out of heaven. Paul warns Timothy when choosing leaders for his church that they must not be new converts, “In case he becomes conceited and incurs the doom passed on the devil.” ITim. 3:6 Arrogance and conceit are always motivated and encouraged by the devil. Its hallmark is always “Look at me, look what I have done!” It is not necessary to boast openly after praying for a miracle or seeing a prayer answered, one can gloat secretly and still fall into Satan’s trap. God dares not honor many by displaying his miracle-working power, for in doing so there is a risk of producing pride. Only after God has broken our EGO resulting in true brokenness and humility can God trust us with many answers to prayer. Could it be that one reason why not many prayers resulting in miracles is that God sees that they would be lifted up with spiritual pride and fall as Lucifer did? Does he love us too much to allow that to happen? Here is the upshot of this truth. If you are looking for someone to pray for a miracle for you, look for the humblest person available and you will have your prayer needs met. James 4:3-6 says “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the the world becomes an enemy of God? Or do you think scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us tends toward envy, but he gives us more grace? That is why scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” “And what does the Lord require of you, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 Let’s look at another interesting possibility for unanswered prayers. In Daniel chapter 10 we find Daniel fasting and interceding for Israel. At the end of a three week period an angel appeared with a message from heaven telling Daniel the reason for the long delay. Daniel 10:12-13 tells us what happened. “That very day I was sent here to meet you, but for 21 days the mighty evil spirit who overlooks the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the officers of the heavenly army came to help me so that I was able to break through the spiritual rulers of Persia.” Jeremiah had prophesied that Israel would be in captivity for 70 years. Now that the 70 years was about up Daniel felt called of God to intercede for the fulfillment of this prophesy. While Daniel is interceding there is a fierce battle taking place in the heavenlies with the intention of blocking Daniel’s prayer. Had Daniel given up and grown weary who knows what might have happened. So the question remains. Where did the real battle take place? Was it in the heavenly realm or was it down by the river where a man of God lay on his face interceding for the nation for 21 days? Here is a sobering principle, “Satan does everything possible to prevent the answer to prayers to reach the earth.” Persistence in prayer is not necessary to persuade God, but to enable Him to overcome the opposition. And now we come to this possible conclusion. The answer to many prayers that have been granted in heaven may never be received because the petitioner became weary, discouraged, intimidated, or just plain gave up. Let’s look at a story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 18. “Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There once was a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him. My rights are being violated. Protect me. He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself. I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding. Then the Master said, “Do you hear what the judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drat his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns? (Message Bible) Listen to Luke 11:9 in the Amplified. “Ask, and keep on asking, and it shall be given to you, seek, and keep on seeking, and you shall find, knock, and keep on knocking, and the door shall be opened to you.” Listen to Hab. 2:3 (Moffatt) “The vision has its own appointed hour, it ripens, it will flower; if it be long then wait, for it is sure, and it will not be late.” It seems that one of the reasons that prayers are apparently unanswered is the failure of the petitioner to continue until the answer is received. If Satan’s will and patience outlasts the petitioner, the petitions will be defeated. Something to think about.