Gary Mimbs: No gate crashers in heaven

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December 12, 2009

Anonymous The Dalton Daily Citizen Sat Dec 12, 2009, 10:33 PM EST

The media has made a big hype of the couple who made their way into a White House event and got to shake hands with the president. In all probability security people will loose their jobs for not checking the list to see that these folks’ names were noy on it. Also this couple will be charged with a federal crime because they went into a place where they were not invited or welcome. They put the president and his family at risk.

This started me thinking. Will anyone be able to slip by the security at the Pearly Gates and crash the party in heaven? The answer is no, there will be no gate crashers in heaven. There will not be anyone there whose name is not written on the list that the Bible calls the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” Nobody will be able to slip in undetected and have access to God and his children.

The good news is that everyone has been invited to go to heaven. Everyone is welcome. It doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor or even what color or nationality you are. The Bible says that, “Whosoever will may come.” BUT you have to respond to the invitation in person and you can only come one way and that is through knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior.

If you try another way you will find that you can’t get in and even if you did you would be miserable there.

This is really what the message of Christmas is all about. God sent his son Jesus that first Christmas to pave the way for anyone and everyone to be able to go to heaven for all eternity. When Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world it opened up the gates of heaven so that anyone who would trust him could be welcomed into heaven. When he arose from the grave he led the way to heaven and invited those who loved him to follow him there when they died.

I have never been invited to the White House to meet the president and probably never will be. I don’t want to go there bad enough to commit a crime and try to slip in uninvited and unwelcomed. But I have been invited to a far greater place than the White House and I have been invited to spend all eternity in the presence of one a billion times better and more important than the president or any earthly king. I have accepted that invitation and am looking forward to going because I know that I will be welcomed into those Pearly Gates and will party with Jesus and the saints for all eternity. You have been invited, too. Won’t you join me there?

s senior pastor of the Dalton First Church of the Nazarenes.

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Gary Mimbs: No gate crashers in heaven

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