Who Will be Barred from Heaven?

 I've written before about sinners and obliquely mentioned who won't be allowed in heaven. Thanks to the Apostle Paul, I can be more specific.

Those proponents of political correctness want us to tolerate supposedly alternative lifestyles. Too bad for them that God doesn't share their reprobate ideas. Instead, they'll face his wrath and miss out on eternal joy.

Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (KJV). "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

While this is not a comprehensive list, it does show that out-and-out sinners of all sorts will end up barred from God's kingdom. Even those who claim to have same-sex attractions, or who believe their the opposite gender of the physical bodies they were born with, will miss out.
Some folks object that they were born homosexual or lesbian. Like June Hunt of Hope for the Heart aptly said, these people are victims of mistaken identity. Thousands of former homosexuals and lesbians attest to the fact that they can and have changed. If those individuals were actually "born that way," change would be impossible.

No matter what a person's proclivity toward forms of sin is, the Lord commands people to forsake their supposed lifestyle and obey him. If they don't, he honours their choice by sending them to the place where all other wicked rebels end up. This is because he knows that heaven would be hellish for those individuals so he graciously lets them go to where they desire to be.

DEALING WITH THE CHRISTMAS BLUES

According to many folks, the holiday season should be the most joyous time of year. But for those who came from broken families or who lost a loved one at this time of year, all the frivolity sets their teeth on edge. "Don't worry - be happy," is no help at all. Neither are the other platitudes people spout off whenever they encounter a wounded individual.

Therefore, some churches, such as South Main Baptist in Houston, Texas, recognize that this time of year is painful for an increasing number of people. This is a welcome change, in my opinion, because not everybody comes from a happy and intact family. With divorce increasing and all the turmoil it causes, children are the ones to suffer most. Saying useless things like "cheer up" just doesn't help.

What many broken people need is what June Hunt from Hope for the Heart teaches. The reason so many folks feel such a tremendous burden is because they're hanging on to their hurts. If they could find somebody who would take them away and recognize that God is the one who repays wickedness, those folks would eventually feel much better. When a person becomes a believer in Christ, the hurts of the past can be handed over to Jesus to bear. After all, God is in a much better position to perfectly punish wrongdoers and to heal wounded hearts.

I'm living proof that this works. Over the years, I've been able to deal with the injustices in my past by handing them, the pain I felt, and my assumed right to prosecute them to the Lord. I still have some residual pain but nothing compared to what I once suffered. I'm grateful to June Hunt for her marvelous biblical counsel.

I wrote extensively about how this gracious lady helped me in my newly-published memoir, How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Please check it out at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE BEST MEDICINE.

Have you noticed how many different psychological problems "science" has come up with these days. So many emotional problems appear to be solvable with pills of some sort or another. Thanks to
Hope in the Night, June gave me the answer that actually helped me ditch most of my emotional suffering from the wrongs done to me.

June told me that my emotional burden was like having stones tied to the back of a car's bumper. When I unhooked them and let Jesus place them on his bumper, I could make much better progress.  Being much greater than us, Jesus can cary our burdens much easier than we could. June based her answer on 1 Peter 5:6and  7. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you."

June then asked me to make a list of all the people who hurt me during my life. Then she said that I should tell Christ how I felt about the incidents. She told me to pray that the Lord would take away both the pain and the terrible emotions that I felt regarding each specific incident.

The next day, I sat at my computer and made the list. Then I followed June's instructions. Whenever an unpleasant memory began to anger me, I took it to Jesus in prayer. Though the tormenting thoughts didn't immediately vanish, I've noticed the strength of the bitterness steadily waning .

I've forgiven those who hurt me with lies and cruel words but I still hate what they did. The worst offences against me were abuses of my eagerness to learn more about Christianity. In an effort to warn and comfort fellow Christians, I wrote How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. This paperback and e-book chronicles the guidence of the heavenly Father and his patience with me. Since millions of people have been harmed by toxic churches, My memoir is a valuable resource to them and their loved ones.

How I Was Razed is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers

I THANK GOD IT'S GONE.

Though Canadian Thanksgiving Day is over, I thank God every day for the wondrous freedoms I enjoy. One precious freedom is the lack of pain I now feel about being sent to a residential school for deaf and blind students in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the tender age of seven, my parents sent me five-hundred miles from my home for months at a stretch I'm so glad that school no longer exists. How was this miracle accomplished? June Hunt, the host of Hope in the Night, gave me the answer back in 2003. It all stems from a proper understanding of forgiveness. The word originally meant to write off a debt. Since vengeance is the Lord's and he'll repay, we can hand over our assumed right to revenge to him. June told me to make a list of all the hurtful situations and list the names of those who wounded me emotionally. Then she said to go down the list and hand each hurt or person over to Christ to deal with. She cautioned that the pain would keep coming back but I would eventually be free of it. I did as she said and it worked. The memories and bad dreams don't trouble me anymore. Though I still think it was wrong for the Alberta government to convince Mom and Dad to send me so far from home for such long periods, the poignancy of the memories is greatly diminished. I've forgiven the people who exiled me to Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind but that doesn't mean that I now approve of what they did. Had I been given a strong magnifying glass and monocular, to view the blackboard with, I could have gone all the way through public school. I'm thankful that today's disabled students are educated along with their sighted peers. Segregating them into distant institutions is rarely done these days. Sight-impaired students now have access to computers and visual aids barely dreamt of when I was in school. I wrote about the time I was sent to that institution in a book called Deliverance from Jericho. Check it out on the left side of this page.