How to get to heaven: The way to eternal life for President Trump—and for you
Do you know anyone who wonders if they’re going to get into heaven when they die? Would it surprise you for a public figure to share that worry openly on live TV?
He said, “I want to 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.”
First, let me say that I appreciate the President’s candor in sharing his sober consideration of his own mortality, his sense of moral responsibility, and his concern with where he is going to spend eternity.
It is not a small thing for the most powerful man in the world to see that he does not get an automatic pass into the Pearly Gates.
So, how does a person get into heaven? Who is at the gate? Is there anything you can do to get yourself in? These are real questions that every person contends with as we face life and the reality of death.
Presidents are not immune from these big questions but it is unusual for the question to be asked so publicly.
This is not the first time President Trump has mused publicly about eternal things. In the past, he has made reference to his parents and gives a glimpse into his theology of heaven:
Trump’s memories of his parents have stirred thoughts of heaven and hell in him in the past. After he was convicted on 34 felony counts, he talked at rallies about what his parents must be thinking. “Now my beautiful parents are up in heaven, I think they are,” he said at one rally. “They’re up there, looking down. They say, ‘How did this happen to my son?’ ”
But other times he confessed he was not so sure his father made it past the pearly gates.
“I know my mother’s in heaven,” he said at a Madison Square Garden rally in New York City in October. “I’m not 100% sure about my father, but it’s close.”
Ouch. Maybe it’s just a joke—but maybe these statements reveal a genuine concern about his and other’s eternal state.
Everyone who is in a position to say so must tell him: “Mr. President, it is not only possible to get to heaven, but freely offered. The way to heaven is not blocked nor even hard to find. The door, the Way and the Heir of Heaven is Jesus. He is the Way and He makes the Way. He is the Resurrection and the Life. All you need to do to know the assurance of heaven is to put your full faith and confidence in Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord. There is nothing more to do.”
When people asked Paul, “what must we do to be saved?” he responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
And then in Romans 10:9-10 he amplifies that same teaching, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
And in Ephesians 2:8-9, we read, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
That’s it— fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Believe in Him and you will not perish.
Mr. President, the way of peace with God is open to you. There is nothing more you must do. Jesus has done it all. Salvation is a gift of grace.
Why then do good things? Why make peace and treat people with grace and walk humbly with the Lord? Because this is the way of life that honors God. So, yes, work hard to make peace for it honors God and His Son, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
And we can rest on the assurance that our works do not get us into heaven. There is no cosmic measuring stick or scales that we hope turn in our favor at just the right time.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And in Acts 4:12, Peter tells the religious leaders that Jesus, the man they crucified, has been raised from the dead and is the promised Messiah, saying, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
There is One Way into heaven, whether you are a President of the United States or not. And that is really great news.
So—what about you? What are you anticipating about heaven? How do you plan to get in? President Trump doesn’t have to live with that kind of doubt and neither do you.
More resources:
Dr. Pamela Pyle is a regular guest on my show and her book, Anticipating Heaven is a good resource. https://drpamela.com/
If you want to talk, I’m here. carmen@myfaithradio.com
