Are you Saved?

I was once asked by a door-to-door evangelist what I believe happens when you die. So I told him plainly what I believed, expecting that his answer to my response would be something in reference to John 3:16.

I told him that I believe that when you die you will stand at judgement to receive your eternal sentence. If you have lived a good life and made God the center of everything you did in life, kept His Commandments, received the Sacraments, did good to others and rejected evil at every turn, then you would go to Heaven. Yet if you did all these things yet in the end still had sin on your soul, then you may have to spend some time in Purgatory since as Jesus said, nothing unclean shall ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Rev. 21:27) But on the other hand if in everything you did, you did to serve mankind and not God, and gave into evil things thinking that it wasn't a big deal… Then you would receive the eternal sentence of Hell.

Of course his response was just as I expected, and followed the famous Protestant theme that Luther invented that believes that if you only accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you will be saved… Guaranteed! Ummm… Not quite!

Kenneth E. Hagin, a well-known Pentecostal televangelist from the "Word Faith" wing of Protestantism, asserts that this assurance of salvation comes through being "born again": "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Though much of Hagin’s theology is considered bizarre in Protestant circles, his explanation of being born again could be endorsed by millions of Evangelical Protestants. In his booklet, The New Birth, Hagin writes, "The new birth is a necessity to being saved. Through the new birth you come into the right relationship with God."

According to Hagin, there are many things that this new birth is not. "The new birth is not: confirmation, church membership, water baptism, the taking of sacraments, observing religious duties, an intellectual reception of Christianity, orthodoxy of faith, going to church, saying prayers, reading the Bible, being moral, being cultured or refined, doing good deeds, doing your best, nor any of the many other things some men are trusting in to save them." Those who have obtained the new birth "did the one thing necessary: they accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior by repenting and turning to God with the whole heart as a little child." That one act of the will, he explains, is all they needed to do. But is this true? Does the Bible support this concept?

Yet scripture teaches that one’s final salvation depends on the state of the soul at death. As Jesus himself tells us, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13; cf. 25:31–46). One who dies in the state of friendship with God (the state of grace) will go to heaven. The one who dies in a state of enmity and rebellion against God (the state of mortal sin) will go to hell.  

In the world we live in today there seem to be many who would rather accept this easy route of just saying you believe in Jesus and then calling it a day over taking the tough road of actually living out their faith in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). But this is pure ignorance! Have we forgotten that the God of the Old and New Testament is the same God? If you are lukewarm you will be spit out! (Rev 3:16) If we really want to be saved, then it's not going to be easy. We must love as God loves, follow His Commandments, receive the Sacraments, and NEVER NEVER give into the world, the flesh or the Devil. These are fundamental basics of the path to salvation, and if we don't follow them… We will not be saved. We can't serve two masters.

I have even heard it said that "in the end, we will all go to Heaven… God will eventually rescue all His children, even the ones in Hell and bring them home." To which I stand in utter amazement in how demonically crafted this statement is. "Don't worry, Hell isn't actually forever." - LIE! Hell is forever, and we must "fear the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell."

"But how could a loving and merciful God allow any of His children to go to Hell for all eternity?"

It is hard to swallow for some, but we need to remember that even though God is loving and merciful… He is not a push over. Like any good parent who would tell their children to not run in the street lest you are hit by a car, so our Heavenly Father is telling us not to sin and give into evil ways lest we fall into Hell. It is not God who chooses our destiny, but ourselves and our free will that He gave us that ultimately decides our fate. If there was no free will, we know that God would will for us all to be in Heaven with Him… Yet because He wishes for us to love Him freely from our own will, then it is us who have ultimately determined our fates.

Yet at the same time, since He does want us in Heaven with Him so badly, He does throw us "life vests" of salvation to help us along the way. These "life vests" are the Sacraments, Graces, Indulgences, the Rosary, Holy Water, Scapulars and much more. And let us not forget that our biggest advocate of all is Our Blessed Mother who also desires all of us to be with her Son in Heaven and will do everything she can to help save us. And we know that Our Lord will never deny her request.

We must remember to live out our salvation in fear and trembling, because our salvation is not guaranteed! And if we have sinned, we must remember not to fall into despair which is an agent of the Devil. Remember, Peter denied Jesus 3 times and came back to be forgiven. Judas betrayed Jesus and hung himself, and was never forgiven. It is never too late to seek the Sacrament of Penance and start over.

It may not be easy to live as a Catholic in this world, but it is easy to die as a Catholic in this world.

God love you all! Pray the Rosary Daily!