Several major news sources, including the New York Times and
USA Today, reported President Trump’s August 19 comments on Fox & Friends
regarding his hopes of going to heaven.
In the interview, speaking of his efforts for peace in Ukraine, President
Trump reportedly said, "I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I'm
hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem
pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons."
It is a good thing to want to create peace. And it is a good thing to want to go to
heaven. Almost everyone shares that
desire. We should pray for President
Trump on both counts. But this raises a question. How does anyone get to heaven?
Mother Teresa said, “I know that when we die and it comes
time for God to judge us, He will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done
in your life?’” “My key to heaven is that I loved Jesus in the
night.”
Billy Graham said, “I am not going to heaven because I am a
preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ.”
The Bible is clear that none of us can achieve a level of
goodness to deserve heaven. Romans 3:23
says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love
for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 10:9-10, “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.”
Paul put it like this: “For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and this is not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so
that no one may boast,” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is only by God’s grace through
faith that any of us enter heaven, and that faith must be more than lip service
or hypocrisy. James stated, “But someone
may say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without
the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Peter summed it up, “Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to
be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which
is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in
heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through
faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time, (1 Peter 1:3-5).
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