“So, will there be Catholics in heaven?”
“Yes, there will be Catholics in heaven. The Lord does not save us based on our religion. If any person calls upon the Lord Jesus and receives Him as their personal Savior, they are guaranteed a place among the redeemed.”
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x Journal,
A young man that I have had occasions to communicate with by email asked the above question. But before you think I’m just coming down on Catholics there is something you need to understand. It would not have mattered to me had he asked me if there would be Baptists in heaven, or Pentecostals in heaven, or Methodists in heaven. The answer remains the same. God does not save us according to our religions. Since his question was about Catholics here is the rest of my response:
“The problem with the Catholic system is that they obscure the gospel message with all their rituals, rules, and misteachings. Yet in spite of all the obscuring there are Catholics who truly come to know the Lord in salvation.”
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Obscuring the gospel.
Let’s not just lay this on the Catholics. Many other religious groups that make a claim to Christianity can be found tying the gospel to their religion. In far too many instances true Biblical Christianity is replaced by Churchanity. I call this a form of Church-idolatry.
This is why so many young people as well as others can be found asking the same question as the young man asked me. Church-idolatry goes like this, which by the way is one of the hall marks of Christian sectarianism and even generates to a Christian cultic environment. Here is what Church-idolatry says:
‘We are the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through us.”
Of course no one will admit to saying such a thing. Yet the truth be known, whether they verbalize such a thing or not, this is exactly what they are preaching. They have venerated their church as part of the gospel message.
[Venerate: Regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed, exalted or be in awe of.] x
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When religion was replaced by reality.
Now let’s speak to what true Christianity is about.
Did you know that the best religious system the world has ever known was dismantled at the cross? Jesus
explains this in his conversation with the Samaritan lady at the well. Her argument had to do her confusion over which religion was right, the Jewish religion or the Samaritan religion —
Jesus said,
“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:19-24)
This brings us to another question –
Since the best religious system ever created, and we know that it was created by God Himselt, that is, the covenant of Moses, was dismantled at the cross, what need do we have for flocking together as a Church?
The answer to that question is simple. The need is great. God has ordained it that each of His people be assigned to a particular flock for their care and safety.
Peter said:
“[To elders and pastors] shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” (1Pe 5:2-3 NASB)
It should go without saying that we aren’t in heaven yet. Nor are we secured from the presence of evil. And so God has decreed that He will meet with every flock, regardless of how tiny it may be, and in these flockings, He will make Himself known in special ways. (This does not preclude the fact that every believer shares the glory of Jesus in their heart.)x
Whenever and wherever we meet we honor Jesus.
The ancients had a saying that spoke of when five or more gather to study the Torah, that the Shekinah [God’s Presence] passes between them. They believed this moment of gathering for the study of God’s Word was the most sacred of moments. You would be surprised at how this idea is actually carried over into the new covenant.
Listen to this promise:
“…in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.” Exodus 20:24
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matt18:20)
These are special promise of the Lord’s presence when His people gather together, regardless of the size of the gathering. 
There is another reason for God flocking His people. The young lambs need a place of security so they can grow properly, and be taught the ways of the Lord, and not have to worry about
harassment by wolves.
Oh, them wolves can be such a problem. Paul warned us about them. Wolves are sly. They often try to enter the flocks disguised as sheep. But you can recognize them after a bit. They emit an order that is unpleasant to the sheep. Besides that, wolves are really stuck on themselves. They can’t hide it.
Of course, wolves don’t really know how to love. All they know to do is to intimidate. They are hard and demanding. On the other hand, sheep are humble creatures and non-threatening.
A need for caution.
Here we need to be cautious. Systems of worship are not necessarily wrong. But they aren’t necessarily right either.
The problem is that God does not deal with us according to our systems of worship. He deals with us one on one on one. He deals with us family by family. He deals with us flock by flock. Isn’t it wonderful to know that you don’t have to worry about which system is right. None of them are right. The only question we need to ask is whether we are right with the Lord.
There is one test to determine if a certain group is Christ centered or into church-idolatry. Paul said that if any group preaches any other gospel than what the apostles preached, they place themselves under a curse.
Listen to the apostle:
“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!“ (Gal 1:9 NASB)
“… the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Rom10:9,10)
Think seriously about it. If we are preaching any other gospel than what the apostles preached, we have placed ourselves under a curse. Why is this? It is because a false gospel is a destroyer of men’s lives.
So the question to ask is –
Does the group that you are associated with preach this one message that believing in and receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savor is the only requirement for salvation, or do they preach their church-idolatry.
Do not let anyone fool you. The message of salvation never changes. Here it is in its basic form: “And it shall come to pass that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The choice is yours. Paul quoted from Moses in saying that we can choose life or we can choose death. We can choose the blessing or we can choose the curse.
Please take time to listen this song (Let it become your confession of faith):
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Just some things to think about.
In Christ always,
Buddy
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