Salvation

In order to fully understand the plan of salvation we must first look at the definition: Salvation—Preservation or deliverance from destruction, difficulty or evil. Another definition would be: Deliverance from power or penalty of sin, redemption. Now that we have a background, which we can work with, salvation basically means to save. In light of this, if you were to die right now, where do you believe will be your final resting place? Heaven, Hell, reincarnation? Let’s say you believe in Heaven and Hell, which of those two would you spend eternity? What does it take to get to wherever you want to go? If you are unsure about any of these questions, be glad you are reading this…

First of all I would like to tell you that I believe in what the Bible says (no matter what) and all of those things about contradictions and translations getting mixed up does not deter me from my faith in God. We all must understand that human beings cannot have all the answers. With the Bible, we can learn how to live the way God intended us to, if you only believe parts of the Bible, but think other parts were “lost in the translation” you simply do not have faith. We must believe that God created the earth before you and I were born and that he knows the past, present, and future, so if God wants us to know about “extra” books of the Bible say, Macabees, it would have been in the original text. Now, back to salvation…

What is Heaven and What is Hell?

Let us start with heaven; it occurs 582 times in the Bible, which means that it is a pretty important concept. Heaven is a place of paradise and eternal happiness, it is better than anything we have ever experienced on earth, all in all, it will be the preferred of the two places to go. If you go to Heaven, you will get a new body, one without any infirmities, no bad eyes, no disease, no pain, ever again. This is illustrated in First Corinthians 15:51: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but all be changed”. (Sleep refers to death). Just to drive the point home, here is another scripture: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him as he is”. So we will be like the one who created us, another perk of heaven.

Hell is where all of the unsanctified people go (as you should well know). Hell, of course, is the opposite of Heaven. Hell is mentioned only 54 times in the Bible that shows how undesirable a place it really is. Generally, when people think of Hell, they think about fire, which is true. The Bible agrees in Matthew 13: 41-43 “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity*; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” As you would assume the waling and gnashing of teeth refer to extreme pain. So the burning will be forever and ever, you will never get used to it. Once again nailing the point home: Revelation 20:12-24 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened: which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works: And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man [and woman] according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life (the book you want to be in) was cast into the lake of fire”. Hopefully, I didn’t scare you too bad, but a key issue that I want you to realize is this: every person will be judged individually, so whatever you have done personally will be the deciding factor in your afterlife. So do not look at others who say: “Well all the churches I go to ask for money and that really turns me away” or “I’m this way because my parents were this way,” there is officially no excuse, you should look for God by yourself, and he will reveal himself. So that is Heaven and Hell in nutshell.

Who Goes to Heaven and Who Goes to Hell?

Believing that there is a heaven and a hell means that you are on the right track, but if you are unsure as to which one you are going, continue reading.

Who goes to heaven? Good people? Perfect people? Only babies because they haven’t sinned? Well if the rapture* hasn’t come by now, you still have a chance to make it. This is what Jesus said himself about going to heaven (and I think he knows what he is talking about): John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What is born again? Let us further read: John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Okay, Born again is being born of water and spirit, water is baptism, and Spirit is God’s Holy Ghost* (are you familiar with that?). So how does this come about? How are you born again in Water and in Spirit? Go to Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” So we should be baptized (that is immersed in water in Jesus’ name, not the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). If you have a repentive heart, and ask God to forgive you along with prayer, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost sooner or later (preferably sooner). Do you think that you already have it? Here is a good way to tell…turn to Act 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” If you didn’t catch it, they speak in other tongues that we cannot identify, have you ever heard that weird babbling that people do in some churches? That is evidence that they have the Holy Ghost. More evidence for someone having the Holy Ghost would be a marked change in behavior…you won’t fell like doing bad things you used to do (lets leave it at that). As always I have to drive the point home by using another scripture, tongues are also a sign for those who do not know God, it is a signal that all of this stuff is real: First Corinthians 14:22 “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe”. Needless to say, after the Holy Ghost and baptism has happened, we should be good, loving people on top of that. So, the people who have the Holy Ghost, and are baptized in Jesus’ name (and still live a good life) have a one-way ticket to heaven, Do you still know where you will spend all of eternity?

Now, sad to say, but everyone that isn’t described in the previous paragraph is not going to heaven. It doesn’t matter how nice you are, you need the certification described above, or you simply won’t make it. God not only judges your actions, but your heart and mind as well. No one wants God to destroy him or her, and I guarantee that no one wants to go to hell. Pray for the Holy Ghost if you don’t have it, or pray for understanding if you don’t believe what I’m telling you. All I ask of you, is to find out for yourself, because in the end only what you do for Christ will last. God Bless.

*Iniquity-Wickedness, ungodliness

*Rapture-When Jesus takes his saints back, we will all disappear into thin air, and no one will know what happened.

*Holy Ghost- God’s Holy Spirit living within you