While reading my Bible on Monday morning, I thought about my friend Dr. Peter Kaddu and his sick octogenarian mother Mrs. Joyce Kaddu. I wondered whether Peter would be glad to have his mother depart and be with the Lord, rather than remain on earth with physical pain and deteriorating memory loss. Surprisingly, an hour later I received a message from Peter saying that his mother had gone to be with the Lord that morning. Based on the thoughts I was having before receiving the news of her demise, I am strongly persuaded that Maama P. as we fondly called her, is indeed presently with the Lord Jesus Christ; physical pain and memory loss never to be experienced again for all eternity. Hallelujah!
Now, it is extremely important that we make our call and election sure (see 2 Peter 1:10), so that when we too depart from this earth, we may go to heaven like Maama P. Many of this generation of Christians are deceived, having bought into the doctrine of demons that when they received Jesus as Lord and Savior, they got an irrevocable ticket to heaven no matter how sinfully they live. However, the Bible teaches otherwise. When Peter, the apostle, had finished encouraging us to bear the fruits of the spirit, he immediately wrote saying: “For if these things (the fruits) are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things (the fruits) is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things (of bearing fruit) you will never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8-11). And the reverse is also true; if we do not bear the fruits of the spirit, an entrance will be supplied to us abundantly into the everlasting hell of Satan. This is exactly what Apostle Paul also said in Galatians chapter 5: “I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things (the works of the flesh in verses 19 to 21), will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).
Sadly, demonic definitions of what it means to inherit the kingdom of God are now trending. One of those wrong definitions is that inheriting the kingdom of God means getting all the things that God has for us here on earth. So, according to this teaching, Christians who are practicing sin needn’t worry about not making it to heaven. They will go to heaven, but will miss out on some of the good and fun ‘stuff’ here! Fortunately for us, the Bible is clear that “not inheriting the kingdom of God” means the wrath of God coming upon sinners, born again or not. As it is written, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:5-7). Hallelujah!
After this earthly life, we shall indeed go to heaven (and return sometime later) only if we made Jesus our Lord and Savior and demonstrated His lordship over our lives by obeying His commandments. If, however, after we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus we live like the devil, we shall share in his eternal portion in hell together with those who out rightly refused to accept Jesus. Theonly difference will be that our punishment will be worse for us in hell than for those who never believed at all. “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20).
I pray that we shall by the Holy Spirit put to death the sins of the flesh.“For if you live according to the flesh you will die (spiritually and go to hell); but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (spiritually and eternally with God)” (Romans 8:13).
Let us be diligent to make our call and election as sure as Maama P. did, and in so doing secure Heaven as our home.