Are You Going To Heaven When You Die? or Hell!...

Are there any other choices? No.

Is ignorance, denial or procrastination a safe way around the question? No.

What does God require for us to enter His pure, holy place?
It would seem reasonable to assume that He would require us to likewise be free of sin, slime, evil, perversion, etc.

What would that look like?
Keeping His 10 Commandments? the Great Commandment? the Great Commission? walking humbly and loving justice and mercy? going to Church? being a basically good person? doing the best we can and leaving the rest up to Him? staying out of trouble and being kind to everyone? letting go and letting God? all/none of the above?

How does one measure righteousness? Who gets to set the measure? How high is the bar?

You can search high and low for the answers, and spend the rest of your life searching the internet, but that's like asking a baker for a recipe for financial freedom...we need to ask a financial person for financial tips and a baker for baking tips.

So to find valid and effective answers to theological questions, the best place to turn is to God Himself. However, not many of us know how to use the hot line to heaven (prayer) well enough to trust ourselves to hear from God accurately. So the best bet is to try something already revealed in plain black and white. And, you guessed it, God has provided His Truth written down in His Holy Bible. It's a formidable book, however, so let some pastors or theologians help you wade through it to the really concise stuff.

God's Perfect Plan
1. God wants only the best for you: God's only begotton Son, Jesus Christ said, "I am come (from Heaven to Earth) so that you might have (eternal) life, and that in it's full abundance." God wants you to enjoy life fully, here & now, and eternally as well.

2. Jesus also said, "... for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16...that's found in the Gospel of the Apostle John in the New Testament, which is in the Bible towards the back of the book, but it comes before the letters/epistles of John which are the shorter ones way in the back.) The 3 in John 3:16 stands for the chapter in this book of John, and the 16 stands for the verse # in that chapter.

So you see from this verse that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to help us escape eternal destruction and instead receive eternal life (with Him in Heaven). And He did it simply because of His great love for each of us. For it says 'whoever believes'... and 'whoever' is our invitation to be one of those who dare to believe and receive this gift from God. This is an invitation to individuals, as individuals, so that we can individually decide for ourselves. God cares about and respects our freedom of choice. His love is couched in great integrity.

3. When we believe in Jesus as our sacrificial gift (God gave Him to our world, and we crucified Him; killed Him on an instrument of torture...so Jesus was sacrificed in order to win us to God.) God was betting on us, that we could catch on to the sacrificial love behind this act of mercy. Once we understand God's perfect plan to redeem us from the grip of sin and evil of every kind, we realize His plan was perfect and driven by pure unadulterated love for us.

4. This is the deal: None of us have been able to do any of the things that make us righteous before a perfectly holy God. (Isaiah 53:6) The Bible warns that no one is good enough; we have no hope in our own ability to make good. If you jump a chasm and miss by an inch, it's no better than if you miss by a mile. The result is the same. You go down to destruction. As sinners, we have already missed the mark. We cannot make the grade on our own. All our best good works are not enough to even up the score. (Titus 3:4,5 and Ephesians 2:8,9) Even with the help of the Holy Spirit, it's too late, we've already sinned at least once in our lives. We are not worthy of Heaven. (Romans 3:23)

5. But God in His wisdom already has a perfect solution. He takes the perfectly lived out life of Jesus Christ in trade for our messed up one. (Romans 6:23) Jesus agreed to that and came to earth, lived a sinless life as a man, and then died as a condemned criminal in our place. So the death penalty for sin was rightfully fulfilled, and the price was fully paid by a perfectly sinless sacrificial offering...the life of God Himself in our place. For Jesus Christ was 100% God and at the same time 100% man. It's truly a perfect, miraculous solution.

6. Our part is to accept this offer from God as is, whether or not we fully understand His love. All God is looking for is our faith and trust in His righteous plan and in His sacrificial gift of love given freely to free us from our own body of sin. So when we die, we get a new heavenly body that is perfect. And at last the sin problem is wiped away, just as if it never happened. Only then are we fit for Heaven.

7. Our response of faith is required to accept and receive this gift. God is looking for each one of us to acknowledge our need and admit our sinfulness, and turn from it and ask for His help. When we decide to ask that the gift of Jesus Christ's perfect life, sacrificial death and powerful resurrection be applied to our account...that's when He instantly does it for each one of us who ask.

If God raised Jesus from the dead, it proves that God had pardoned and invited Jesus back into His Heaven. And the Bible tells us that's where Jesus is now, even at the right hand of God on His throne in Heaven. And the Bible also tells us that Jesus is praying for you right now, for it says He is always interceding for us. This is the kind of God we have--One who has lived our painful life, and has understood our need and provided Himself as our way to freedom.

So, if you want to be free from sin, fit for Heaven, empowered to live a holy and righteous life, full of the joy of your salvation, then pray a prayer to God from your heart, and you can be sure He will hear and respond to you instantly and perfectly without holding anything back from you. For God is perfect love.

Pray something like this:
Dear God, I'm so grateful for your love for me. And I thank you for calling me, to live in your love.
I confess that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sin, and with your help, I turn away from sinning... from now on.
Please forgive all my sins - every single one; the ones I can remember and even the ones I can't remember.
Thank you, Jesus, that You lived a sinless life and took the full punishment for all of my sins. Thank you God for accepting that as payment in full.
I receive you, Jesus Christ, as my Savior, and the free gift of eternal life that You provide for me.
I want to live for You, to serve You, and to honor You, above all others.
I confess You as my only Savior and LORD.
I invite You and Your Holy Spirit into my life.
And with Your help, I will follow You, in the fellowship of Your Church, all the days of my life.
I give you my life, O God. I want to live for You.
Help me learn to follow you.
Please help me read and understand the Bible as much as possible. I pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen

If you don't have a Bible, go to any Christian bookstore or even to Amazon.com or to any other large bookstore. Get one that's easy to read, yet is a fully accurate translation. Try the NEW Living Bible or the New International Version first. It's best if you get a Thompson Chain Reference one, or at least a Study Bible or one with lots of Helps in the back. Just tell the salesperson you are a new Christian and need one with Helps for new Christians. No one can call themselves educated persons unless they've read through the Bible at least once. And for the Christian, it's actually food for the soul. You cannot grow up spiritually healthy without it. Don't read it like a source book to skim according to your interests. Read it cover to cover to discover what God requires and has every right to expect. As you do, you'll also discover what powers, privileges and perks He offers as well. In it you'll find your heavenly Father's deepest heart's desires for your fullest life.

Start reading in one of the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Then finish reading the entire New Testament (that's all the books after those.) Then begin at Genesis and finish it, then Psalms, then Exodus, then Proverbs, then Leviticus, then Job, & on like that.

If you haven't yet found a good Church, look for any Protestant Christian one where you see the Pastor preaching directly from The Holy Bible and staying with the text rather than going off on a tangent.

It's important to read the Bible and pray to God daily, and to go to church and worship God at least weekly. Learn to praise Him. And learn to be thankful. This is healing on every level. 

If you obey His commands, you will experience His blessings that attend obedience.  

You also need to ask God to help you make amends for all the pain and suffering you caused others whenever you sinned against anyone. A true Christian is one who lets God help him or her clean up their own life. God wants us to deal with the sin issue so we can live sin free, and also free of it's effects. You may still have to pay some of the natural consequences of your sins. That's life. Yes, salvation is a free gift, but sanctification (getting cleaned up) will cost you your entire life. You did not get this way in a day, and it will take much longer than a day to undo and re-do some messes. We all experience level ground at the foot of the cross. None of us are pure before God without asking Jesus to help us be transformed from the inside out. If you ask, and work with Him, you will indeed experience new life in Christ...new and free, full and glorious...it's all His doing. Receive, believe, and walk in it by faith. God bless you as you yield to Him and live in His love. 

3. For more help, go to our Links page, and click on the 4 Steps to God Link. But remember, that's not all there is to it. After the wedding, one needs to live out the marriage. And so it is with our relationship to God. Feed your spiritual life by plugging in to a local church so you can stay connected to God and His help.

Some safe church denominations would be the mainline ones like any Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Calvary Chapel, Lutheran, etc. Ask around. Check with www.BillyGraham.com

May the Lord Himself keep you fully blessed and covered in His love all your life.