The title of this article is a tragedy of all tragedies─because it is true. Apostate ministers, ignorance of God’s Word and a warm, fuzzy, make me “feel good” society, is providing information that is completely antithetical to the Truth.
I cannot begin to count the times that I have heard someone make a statement that basically states that their deceased loved one was with God because…. (You fill in the blank.) I would keep waiting for: “Because they believed in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and asked Him to be saved.” But that isn’t what is said. Sad, Sad, Sad!
The Bible says:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
These are only two verses among many more that make it very clear about what we all must do to be saved. It isn’t rocket science! A child can understand this! Jesus wrote it this simply, so we could all understand!
Then why do they say?
They were so good. They gave so much. She raised us well. He worked hard to support us. He was a good husband. She was a great wife. They loved everybody. They were so well liked. They always paid their bills. They belonged to the church. They were baptized. They walked the aisle. They headed up all these organizations. They donated to various organizations.
This list could go on and on and on infinitum, but only one thing is important at this point. Did they put their trust in Jesus Christ to save them? That’s it!
It amazes me that people will rest the eternal destiny of their soul upon what everybody says, except the One who gives them the correct information. That correct information is called the Truth.
The Bible says:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
There you have it! Jesus will tell you the Truth. He even goes on to say that if you want to go to Heaven after you die, He is the only way to get there. We must go through Him by faith or we don’t go at all.
It certainly isn’t up to me, or you, to even attempt to determine if so-and-so is saved when we notice their actions. Christians can be “naughty” too, and the heavenly Father does discipline His children─unlike most earthly parents of today. Nevertheless, I have seen folks live for the devil and think that they’re okay. They think can live for the devil down here, and live for Jesus in heaven, I guess. Where did that idea come from? I don’t know where it came from, but it is widely practiced.
Okay, so I do know where it comes from. Notice this passage:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Satan, the devil, is a roaring lion, and I can assure you he isn’t going hungry. Every day people are dying, good people, and going to hell, because they are being swept up in his lies. Satan says, “Live any way you want, there is no hell, your good deeds will out-weigh your bad deeds, there are many ways to God.” Blah, blah, blah… It is all a lie. Only Jesus will tell you the Truth. Listen to Him.
Jesus isn’t out to devour us. Satan is. Jesus is out to save as many as will come to Him. Satan is out to prevent it. One final thought: Are any of usreally good? Notice what God has to say about that:
“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12).
“And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God” (Mark 10:18).
We may think our loved one is now in heaven with God because they were “good” but that isn’t what God says. If they are now in heaven with God, it is because they believed in His Son Jesus and Jesus saved their soul.
What about Mark 10:18 above? I suppose someone is thinking, “Jesus wasn’t good either. He said so.”
That is not what Jesus said. He said:
“Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”
Is He not God? Notice what He says in the book of John.
“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:29-30, emphasis mine).
In Mark 10:18, Jesus was trying to get the young man to recognize who was standing right in front of him. He was telling him, “I am God; you must come to the Father through Me.”
If you will read the entire passage of Mark 10:18-22, you will find that this young man was a “good person.” That wasn’t enough, though. It didn’t count. Why did Jesus tell him to sell all he had and give to the poor?
Would that save him? No.
So why did Jesus tell him this? He told him this to change his heart. The young man was all caught up in his good works and possessions. He loved them more than anything else, and wasn’t ready to give Jesus first place in his life. A “good” person walked away from Jesus that day. I imagine that as Jesus watched him walk away, the young man got smaller and smaller as the distance between them became greater and greater, until he was out of sight.
A “good” person walked out into eternity lost.
Nice people go to hell, but they don’t have too.
Grant Phillips