Heaven or no heaven

Unless you are an evangelical you cannot go to Heaven.

That’s a pretty radical statement, isn’t it? Some might find it hateful, others ignorant, but you need to know that it is absolutely true. Now that I have your attention it is important to define what an evangelical is.

Merriam-Webster defines evangelical in three ways.

• The first is: as someone who is in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels. 
• The second simply: as someone who claims to be protestant.  

And the third: as someone who emphasizes salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual.

Sadly, the world has hijacked the term. 

As they have done with many other terms that we have always taken for granted, such as marriage, male or female amongst many others, they have done so with the term evangelical.

Many associate the word with politics. Others associate it with faith healers. But the fact of the matter is that simply put, being an evangelical means that you believe that salvation is found in scripture alone, through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone and for the glory of God alone.

• It is impossible to get into Heaven if you are not an evangelical.
• I am not offering a solution to the problem of the hijacking of the term. 

But I do simply want to point out, that just because a term has been hijacked by the world does not mean that we Christians must do away with it. In fact, I have found it to be a very helpful tool for evangelism. 

If someone asks me what religion I am, sometimes I say, I’m an evangelical in the real sense of the word. Which always leads the one I’m talking to, to ask “what is the real definition of that word?”

It is so simple to explain the Gospel at that point because the Gospel is the definition. “An evangelical is someone who believes…”

It is so important we define terms, and get beyond “do you believe in Jesus?” And so, it is so important that we define carefully what it means to be protestant and evangelical. Because so many people claim to be evangelical and they are not, and perhaps some might say that they are not, but yet, they might be. 

It really is pretty simple.

• If you believe that justification is instantaneous you are an evangelical. 
• If you believe that justification is a process it is impossible for you to be a Christian and you still must be born again. 

Justification is the act that God does on a sinner where he declares him to be righteous. Those who believe it is instantaneous understand that they cannot possibly contribute to their salvation, and most importantly understand that on judgment day, if anyone enters into heaven, that God alone deserves the glory for that. The sinner cannot merit for himself heaven, or he would steal glory from God. 

On the other hand, those who believe in incremental regeneration are glory-thieves. They imagine that on the day of judgment God will see that they are “more good than bad” and will be allowed entry partly (or entirely) based on their merits. This is blasphemy and anyone who believes this cannot possibly be saved. This is the mentality Jesus despised and the reason he came to save hell-bound souls. 

There are many self-proclaimed evangelicals who think that they will go to heaven one day because they are good people. These people are not evangelicals. They are self-worshippers and glory thieves. There are some, I’m sure, that believe the Gospel and are truly born again, that for whatever reason reject the label evangelical. These people, whether they like it or not, are evangelical.

It is unpopular in this day and age to tell someone that they are wrong. Especially that they are wrong about their identity. Some people seem to think that there is nothing more unloving than to question people and what they identify as. 

There is nothing more loving that to tell someone that they are wrong about their eternal destination. Or at the very least, to ask probing question about their faith to see if they are truly saved.

If someone thinks that they are trans-Korean despite being born British, then their body will suffer consequences and it would probably be loving to speak the truth to him and to get that man some help. But how much more important is it, if someone mistakenly thinks that they will be ok on judgment day, to not warn them that the God of the universe has already said in his word that he will cast them into hell if they are not born again? Eternity is at stake!

There are two types of people who seem to be losing the label of evangelical.

The first are people who reject the truth. They realize the exclusive nature of the Gospel. They realize the fact that the Bible demands holiness, and they reject and rebel against it. 

The second are folks who reject the label. They are sick and tired of the baggage that seems to come with being evangelical. They don’t want to be aligned with political parties and in some cases with what they would deem the “American church”. I would simply point out that being evangelical is not a movement or a party but rather simply something you believe in your heart. It has nothing to do with politics, nationality or with color of skin, but entirely to do with whether you are born again and have received a new heart. If you are staunchly anti-evangelical, you might still be one, and if you accept the label, you might still need to become one. 

It my come to the point one day where we might have to start thinking about new terms to describe ourselves, and  if you look at these troubling surveys that day might be already here, but for now I have found “I am an evangelical by the real definition of the term” to be an adequate statement that has opened doors to explain the Gospel in a clear and quick way.