Let’s work our way through this article through a series of examples.
Example #1 – Job Hiring
I have been part of the workforce for several years now. Given that I have had jobs while in school during my college years, I have had the chance to work in various industries. Regardless of what type of jobs I worked however, or the pay grade being offered, or whether a college degree was required or not, all jobs had something in common: some type of defined hiring process in place. That hiring process that ensures that the company hires the best candidates tends to vary from “somehow defined” to “well defined” depending on the size of the organization or the effectiveness and efficiency of the established HR processes.
A hiring process is simply a series of actions or steps taken by which an organization searches for the right talents, screens, then hires the best candidates for its open positions.
After successfully going through the ever-intensive interviewing process that many organizations now have in place and being selected, the hiring process does not end there. One must go through a separate HR process often referred to as orientation. During this session, the employee is given the opportunity to learn more about organizational goals, vision, missions, culture, and values. And even at that point in the process, one is still not technically hired yet in most companies unless the hiring was internal, or you were hired based on direct referral by someone in management. The true hiring process is complete when the new candidate reads and signs what many organization refer to as the employee workbook, the job description that outlines the expectations that the employer has of the candidate, and all other documents aimed at regulating overall workplace culture and behaviors.
In other words, not just anyone can walk into any company and become an employee. Every company has a unique identity with various laws, guidelines, and expectations that regulate the professional lives of those who work there. Organizations can then be said to have standards. If a potential employee successfully goes through the hiring process however refuses to agree to those organizational laws and regulations, regardless of who you know at that organization or well qualified you were for the position you will not be hired. This is an example to simply illustrate how we humans we feel about “places” which are mostly referred to as “entities” or “institutions” we create. All human established entities have well defined laws, regulations, and guidelines that dictate overall functionality and daily operations. Consequently, there is also a defined process to help identify who can be granted access and who cannot as not everyone will not be a good fit.
If we humans are intelligent enough to understand that the entities, which are places where people gather to fulfil a vision and mission, need a well thought out selective “process” to approve who comes in and who does not, how much God created Heaven? Heaven is a Kingdom, a place with a King who has laws, statutes, and expectations of its constituents and not everybody can be a good fit.
Example #2 – Visa and Citizenship Application
Let us consider another example. When was the last time you visited another country other than the one you currently live in? If you are traveling within the same country you are already in, chances are you should be able to move around just fine without having to apply for a visa. However, the moment you decide to visit another country, you will need to submit an application with the immigration office of said country to obtain a visa that allows you to enter the country. This application in most countries (excluding coalitions such as the EU for example) often has different question fields; some pertaining to your identity and personal information and others to judge if you will be a good fit to enter the country. The application and document requirements vary depending on the type of visa application being submitted. After careful review of your application and documents submitted in addition to the legal background search that takes place behind the scenes, the immigration office which is a governmental entity of that country will grant you a Visa that allows you entrance.
When you are applying for citizenship, the application process is even more thorough. The number of documents requested are often numerous. There is also an official interview process whereby one meets with the legal representative of the immigration office of said country. The duration of the citizenship application process overall varies from one country to another and may last for decades in some cases. However, one may wonder why? Why isn’t it simple just to walk into any country in the world? The answer is quite simple: because all nations around the world have standards. They have laws, statutes, and regulations that are upheld, and they need to ensure that anyone coming from another geographical location for visitation purposes or permanent residence is good fit.
Example #3 – Application for Colleges/Universities
Many have attended colleges, universities, or other pre-undergraduate educational institutions to some extent. Even within those institutions, one quickly realizes that one can simply not behave however ones chooses to as consequences will follow, up to expulsion. In all those educational institutions, the laws and regulations established are targeted to manage interactive behaviors among all parties involved in the educational process.
Needless to say, one is also required to submit an application along with the requested documentation before one gets admitted into such institutions. At some point in that admission process, one has to sign documents agreeing to abide by the laws and regulations of the institutions.
Even here one sees that educational institutions also have standards. And those requirements will need to be met before one can qualify to be admitted.
Example #4 – Application to Rent A Living Space
In case one is in need of a living space, may it be a room, or house, or apartment to rent at least in the US, one must also go trough an application process and submit documents and/or references as requested by the potential landlord. Even if the place being rented is not an official apartment building but someone’s den or house, there is often some type of rental process in place to follow including the signage of a lease agreement.
Once all documentation requested are reviewed and the vetting process to ensure that you will be a good fit based on the landlord’s expectations is complete, one is then required to make a form of payment that often consists of a deposit and 1-month rent to take procession of the said space. However, in this instance, one realizes again that even landlords as in a person or entity offering a space to rent have standards to weed out who can or cannot rent with them as not just anyone is admitted.
Example #5 – Your Own House or Living Space
We covered an article in the past entitled: Why Being “Nice” Won’t Get You to Heaven. Those articles closely tie to the very topic being discussed in this article. Would you just let anyone enter your house, or apartment, or room? Sometimes logic is all that is needed to understand the topic at hand. And the answer to that question would be no.
Though many of us do not have a written set of rules, laws, and regulations that govern our living spaces, not just anyone can walk into our homes even if there are not perfect strangers. Among all the people we know, friends, family, and acquaintances, not all of them have been to our homes. Before one can, there must be a pre-established relationship between you and that person. There also has to be a certain level of trust whereby you know that they are good fit with your values before ever letting them into your personal space.
This simply means that each human being has standards unless their perception of themselves, namely their self-esteem, has somehow been compromised.
Example #6 – Dating & Our Individual lives
Would you just date anyone? Many understand that dating is a pretty big deal. Noticed that I said dating though I prefer the term courtship, not casual sexual encounters or hookups. Dating is a big deal for those who are dating with the long-term goal of marriage in mind. It determines the quality of one’s living standards in the future as well as those of their children, overall happiness, and the ability to achieve lifetime goals for all parties.
As a result, many have standards when it comes to dating and simply do not entertain people who do not meet their expectations or the vision they have for their own future as well as that of their children. Unless again, one’s perception of self-worth or image is somehow warped. Many often just don’t date about anyone by letting them walk right into their lives.
In Summary –
If we had to go through all the organizational or institutional bodies or entities that were created by mankind and that have a well-established qualification process before one can be admitted to them, a decade wouldn’t be enough to complete this list. Even your local gym has regulations and laws that if violated, will cause one’s membership to be revoked.
One will then think that we humans will be the first to understand when the point is made that not just anyone can enter heaven as many religions will have you believe. And if you don’t make it in heaven for eternity, where do we think we will end up? We still need an eternal destination and that place opposite to heaven will be hell instead.
Did you create heaven? Is it your home, country, or company? No! It is God’s. If you have standards for your homes or companies that weeds out who can or cannot be admitted to them, why can’t God do the same? Why do we get to tell him who can or cannot enter heaven upon death when Heaven is his? Notice how you can’t go to a company and tell them what they should be looking for in their ideal candidate, but they have to be the ones to inform you of what they are looking for? The same is of Heaven. We do not get to tell God who qualifies to enter his Heaven. Only he can tell us what his laws, rules, and regulations are then we choose if we want to still follow the previous thing we are accustomed to on earth or to follow a new vision that is God’s.
We did not create Heaven; heaven is a completely different kingdom or entity with a founder:
The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. (Proverbs 3:18, KJV)
And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8, KJV)
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. (Psalm 11:4)
That is why I often tell people to flee from any religions that tells you that as long as you are a good person, once you die you will enter heaven. That is an absolutely false claim because you don’t get to decide who enters heaven as you are not its creator. Many often ask the question: how do I know if my religion is right one? Well one way to know that your religion is false is that you have been taught that as long as you are a good person, you will make it to heaven or just about anybody can make it to heaven. That religion is false because its goal is not to get you to a place of eternal peace upon death, but to make you feel comfortable on earth and avoid accountability to God by living anyhow you want yet desiring to go to Heaven not caring what God wants.
Furthermore, what does “good” even mean? By whose definition of “good” do you get to enter another country as Heaven is kingdom? How can one migrate to heaven learning its laws and statues? In addition, given that the eternal kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom not a physical one and has a King, we already know that whatever laws and statutes need to be followed are not only physical but also spiritual (For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin -Romans 7:14, ESV). This means that in the quest of trying to go to heaven, we have to learn how to be spiritual beings living on earth versus physical being living on earth.
According to the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel knew that us the children of men understood very little about him as well as his laws and statutes. By reaching down to a human called “Abram”, he had bigger plans: to teach humanity his laws and statutes and to win us back to an eternal place called heaven full of joy, peace, righteousness, and ridden of any evil with him. I personally think that for God, it wasn’t about how to make sure that whomever he reached down on earth will be pleasing to all ethnicities in order for them to identify with this covenant. No! He simply made a way though man of his choice to reach down to us again so we can learn about him.
It started with Israel and through Jesus Christ the vine we then gentiles (who are not Jews) were joined to the faith. The Torah includes all the laws, statues, and judgments of the God of all gods and the King of all kings so we can learn more about him and his expectations. Jesus Christ while on earth also focused on the kingdom of God are the center of first message he ever preached at the beginning of his ministry:
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17)
And Jesus spent lots of time telling us stories of the kingdom of Heaven for us to understand that it is a Kingdom with completely different laws and statues than Earth where we all currently reside in. Those stories of heaven are called parables that Jesus Christ told to help us understand how the Kingdom of Heaven works. He would always start those parables with: “The kingdom of God is like…” in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Jesus also made sure to give us the 2 main requirements to qualify for Heaven:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:3-5, NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6, NKJV)
Based on those 2 verses, Jesus made it clear that we cannot enter heaven as we are right now, not in our current state. And this has nothing to do with being a “good person”, we need to be transformed into a completely new beings to be able before we could enter heaven. Hence, we need to become completely new creatures:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12,2 NKJV)
Before anyone can enter heaven there has to be a transformation that is only done in Jesus Christ. If not, we cannot simply enter heaven as we are. And every day he gives you is a chance for you to come to him and get to know him. The enemy keeps us very busy and pre-occupied about the cares of life, so we never seem to have time to pray, read the Bible, get into his presence and talk to them. That unfortunately will not excuse us on the day of judgement as in my experience, when something is important, we find a way to make time for it. I hope we are not so busy that we run out of time! The Bible say tomorrow is not guarantee. Are you ready to stand before the throne of God to account for your life and why you never had time to get to know him? Jesus is coming back soon!
Going back to the beginning of this article, if we have standards as humans, why is God referred to as a cruel God when he has his own standards as far as who gets to enter heaven? Keep in mind that just like just not anyone can enter your home, or become an employee in your company, or even migrate any countries on this earth without having to deal with immigration services, not just anyone can enter heaven. Is that not fair and logical?
Dear, Heaven has an immigration process and it is in Jesus Christ ONLY! The only way!
Run to Jesus Christ dear. He is the ONLY way to Heaven, to the God who made all things. Are you interested in receiving Jesus Christ? This I guarantee you is going to be the best decision of your life. It is quite simple, click here to get started with this little prayer. Just pray from your heart and mean it!
Stay Blessed!
Glory be to the Great I AM the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
Our Lord God is One!
Thank you Jesus Christ my Lord & Savior!