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Biblical Reasons Why We Should
And Practical Suggestions on How We Can
Create Heaven on Earth
I hope this link assures the reader that I take the Bible seriously, and defer to it as an absolute authority. If there's a heaven, I think I have as much right as anyone to be confident of going there. The ironic thing is, many people who ignore the earth and long to be raptured to heaven may be surprised to find they have no right to expect a "Go Directly to Heaven" card.
What gives a person the right to say "I am a Christian and I'm going to heaven when I die?" On what basis should we evaluate that claim?
Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know them."
But we don't even have to get into the fruit-inspection business if a person's claim to be a Christian is theologically defective. Consider this one:
"I am a Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ is our god. He was an extraterrestrial being who came to earth and inseminated Eve, thus creating the present human race."
I don't care what kind of fruit this guy bears, he's still a nut.
How about this claim:
"I am a Christian because I prophesy in His name, and in His name have cast out devils, and in His name have done many wonderful works,"
Jesus Himself said to such a person, "I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:23)
How about a person who says,
"I believe in God, and I believe that the blood of Christ cleanses me from all my sins, and I believe I'm going to heaven when I die."
James said, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (James 2:19)
In that same chapter James said,
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
We live in a world that is naked and destitute (by "naked" I mean "the emperor has no clothes"), and most Christians are hoping to "depart in peace" in the Rapture. What will Jesus say to them?
I took a religion class in college, and during a conversation the professor expressed his dislike of John Calvin and Jerry Falwell; Calvin for his doctrine of Predestination and Falwell for his attempts to "impose a theocracy." I defended Calvin. "Everybody gets what he wants," I explained. "You don't want to spend eternity with Jerry Falwell do you?" No, the professor admitted. "So why do you complain that you weren't predestined to go to heaven?" No answer.
What's one thing that surely takes place in heaven?
That
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:10-11
)
Why would anyone want to spend eternity bowing before Jesus if he doesn't like obeying Jesus on earth?
Here's a claim I can believe:
"Our citizenship is in heaven" (
I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who says he's a Christian because his citizenship is in heaven. A person who sees himself as a citizen of heaven here and now stands a better chance of going to heaven when he dies than someone who has no conception of being an obedient citizen of heaven in this life here on earth.
I suspect a lot of people are going to be surprised when they try to cross the border into heaven and find out they haven't even got a green card.
What does it take to become a citizen of heaven?
I think it can be summed up in four words: "Allegiance to the King."
Or maybe five: "Unqualified allegiance to the King."
Most Americans who call themselves Christians lack allegiance to the King. Most of them deny that allegiance to the King is even necessary.
I've given this issue of allegiance a great deal of thought. I passed the California Bar Exam and was completely qualified to practice law, but was denied a license to practice because my allegiance to God is greater than my allegiance to the State. Here are the details. Most people have never thought about allegiance. But I believe it's a central idea in the Bible, and is the basic requirement for entrance into heaven.
The word "citizen" comes from the French word for "city." The word "civilization" comes from the Latin word for "city." The concept of "city" is found in the Greek word polis, from which we get our English word "politics." The Greek word polis is often translated "city-state."
The $64,000 question was posed by St.Augustine: Does true civilization come from the City of God or from the city of man.
Do you seek to be a citizen of the City of God, or the empires of man?
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