Sometimes I wonder if I might have IBS – Irritable Brain Syndrome – but then I have found that there are people who may have even less on the ball than I do.
There exists today a religious sect of zealous subscribers. They correctly believe that heaven is the last and best stop of our journey. However, they teach that only 144,000 of their followers will qualify.
As of 2024 they number about 8.6 million. Which means that only 1 out of 60 of the faithful will make it through the pearly gates. Hmm? The typical local congregation is no more than 200, which means that an average of 2 people from each gathering will make it to glory land. How disheartening!
To qualify they must adhere to the teaching and be active in their preaching. The more people they persuade to be baptized and become followers, the better their chances of going to heaven.
BUT – let’s suppose each follower was able to enlist just one person. That would double the membership to 17.2 million followers, which lowers the odds of admission. Only 1 out of 120 of the membership would walk the streets of gold.
The sect is now over 154 years old which means there is a century and a half of competitors who want to be one of the 144,000. Oh, and their ecclesiastical authorities refuse to disclose the number of baptisms from the inception of their movement to the present. I wonder why?
Though they say their teaching is Biblically based, I think they missed a verse or two or maybe two hundred. Let’s look at just one for now. The apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast” – Ephesians 2:8-9.
Paul said it is by grace that we are saved. Grace is that undeserved intervention of God – who, out of His goodness, does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. He takes spiritually bankrupt people and puts a hefty deposit into our accounts.
To be saved is to have God redirect our paths from the pit of hell to the pinnacle of heaven.
Grace is His response to our faith in the divine Lord Jesus, who was crucified for our sins, and then rose again to prove that what He did for us was more than enough.
Very important is the idea that this salvation is not something that we can earn – it is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God – not a wage for our work. If I should attempt to work for something that has been given as a gift – I would insult the giver and steal the generous spirit that prompted it. But God is the giver of grace, and we, therefore, have no reason to boast.
And yet the folks in that sect work tirelessly to proselytize. Just the other day I removed one of their sneaky tracts which was slapped on a gas pump. They labor to earn a spot in heaven.
Ironically, they have an aggressive disfellowshipping program, which means they regularly kick people out, which helps to increase the possibility of heaven for those who are left.
And yet Jesus said that once we are in, we can’t be out. He said, “My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand – John 10:27-28.
It’s hard to undeserve something that we never deserved in the first place. We are saved by God’s grace as a response to our faith in Jesus.
Take a moment today and pray. Tell Him, “Save me Lord for I am a sinner. I need and I want Jesus and the gift of forgiveness that He died to provide for me.”
A Prayer: Lord help those who misunderstand your gracious liberating truth
This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com
May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always
Scripture passages are from the NETBible ®
Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson 