You are invited to be a delegate representing your nation at a conference where persons from many nations will meet to discuss issues of great significance to mankind .
Of course you must make travel arrangements which include having a valid passport as well as a visa which permits you to legally enter the other nation .
A business handling registration of delegates would see that you would be given information on how to get a visa .
Now imagine this :
You submitted all the proper documentation proving your identity and that indeed you were asked to be a delegate to the conference .
You received an email stating your documentation was in order , along with a verification code number.
You were asked to request via Internet the required visa. Your verification code number & proof of a valid passport would be all you need for the nation you wish to visit to issue the visa . You would be notified by email and furnished a paper visa.
So after entering the required information you received a message online thanking you and saying "congratulations , you have successfully completed the visa request form and check your email in a few days for the paper visa ."
Sounds secure yes? A done deal.
Next imagine this:
The following day after being notified that your visa application was successfully completed, you get an email marked urgent from the nation you wish to visit stating they have no record of you as a confirmed participant for the conference; therefore they can't issue you a visa.
Shocked you sent an email to the business making the travel arrangements for the conference .
You received a return email and
were told that the required information you had previously submitted so that you could get registered for the conference as a participating delegate "could not be found in the database."
A new verification code would be issued that you would need to use to request a visa .
No explanation of how already you had used the registration code this same business had issued to you which you had already used and were given a message online stating your visa application was verified!
Do you feel a bit confused about this?
Allow me to share with you one trip you will make where there won't be any problems with a missing name in a database . No system in the sky such as iCloud will be monitoring your data.
I'm talking about who after death will enter heaven.
Where will you spend eternity ?
THE BOOK of LIFE
The Bible talks about a book that records who will or will not be in heaven,
Revelation 13:8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Also
Revelation 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
So how does one's name get written into this "book of life" so they will escape bring thrown into the lake of fire ?
Does God look at our good deeds and weigh them against our bad deeds?
The short answer is "NO",
Jesus answered this question :
John 14:5-6 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Also
When questioned by the religious authorities how or by what name Peter and John, two of the followers of Jesus , had healed a crippled man , this was the reply:
Acts 4:7-12, 14 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. "
But how can the name of Jesus or anyone else keep us from the lake of fire?
How exactly DO we get our name written into the Lamb's Book of Life?
How does God establish His database ? Do we need a visa and/or passport to get into the Kingdom of God? Aren't all religions ok as long as the person tries their best ?
Next post we will see the answer.
The answer is found in understanding and trusting in the message of the gospel of Jesus the Christ Who is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world .
And we will also find out if once someone's name is entered in the Book of Life , can their name be removed ?
Can a person THINK their name IS in the Book, but at the judgment will hear the chilling words :
Depart from Me, I never knew you .
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