10/24/2026
This is long but my hope is one person reads it, and as a result is heaven bound. I’ve simplified the gospel message into a 5 minute read.
The Gospel: Are You Sure You’re Going to Heaven?
A message for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Catholics, and anyone who has not put their faith in Jesus Christ
I want to speak directly to my Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu friends, as well as anyone who has never confessed with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believed in their heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead. I also want to speak to some of my Catholic friends, including those who sincerely love God but may have misunderstood the central message of the Gospel.
This isn’t about attacking anyone’s religion, questioning anyone’s sincerity, or claiming that I’m better than anybody else. It’s about the most important question any of us will ever face:
What happens when you die, and how can you know for certain where you will spend eternity?
The Bible gives us a clear answer, but it may challenge some things you have believed your entire life.
1. What does the Bible say we must do to be saved?
Romans 10:8–9 says:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
That is the heart of the Gospel. We are called to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead.
Christianity is not simply about being a good person, following religious traditions, attending church, giving to the poor, or trying to live a moral life. Those things may have value, but they cannot substitute for the salvation God offers through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself said in John 14:6:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Those are the words of Jesus. The question isn’t whether we like them or whether they fit comfortably with what we already believe. The question is whether we believe Him.
2. You cannot earn your way into heaven
This is where I believe some of my Catholic friends—and many other religious people—miss the central message of the Gospel.
Ephesians 2:8–9 says:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Read that again. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace. It is not something we earn by accumulating enough good deeds.
Sometimes I picture people imagining that God has some kind of heavenly weighing scale. On one side are our good deeds, and on the other are our sins. As long as our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, we assume we’ll make it into heaven.
But that is not the Gospel.
God doesn’t offer salvation as a reward for being good enough. He offers salvation because Jesus paid a debt we could never pay ourselves.
If we could earn our way into heaven through our own goodness, why would Jesus have needed to suffer such a brutal beating and endure the crucifixion?
Why would God the Father send His own Son to suffer and die if our good deeds could accomplish the same thing?
The cross was not unnecessary. It was the very reason we could be reconciled to God.
Our good works should be the fruit of our faith and gratitude toward God—not an attempt to purchase our way into His presence.
3. Jesus took our sins upon Himself
Second Corinthians 5:21 says:
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Think about what that means.
Jesus Christ was without sin. He never lied, never committed an evil act, and never disobeyed the Father. Yet He willingly took upon Himself the punishment for our sins.
First Peter 2:24 says:
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.”
Isaiah 53:5 foretold His suffering:
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Jesus wasn’t dying for His own sins. He had none. He was suffering for mine and yours.
And then we come to one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Scripture.
Matthew 27:46 records Jesus crying out from the cross:
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
I started bawling while writing this part because I began thinking about what Jesus must have experienced in that moment.
The Son of God, who had existed in perfect fellowship with the Father, was bearing the weight of our sin and experiencing the horror of the judgment He had come to take upon Himself.
Sin is so serious in the sight of a holy God that Jesus willingly endured the suffering and abandonment expressed in that cry. Christians have understood this moment in different ways, but the central truth is unmistakable: Jesus bore the cost of our sin on the cross.
I think about how often God has every reason to turn His face from me because of my own sin. I think about my failures, my selfishness, my thoughts, and the things I’ve done that fall short of His holiness.
And yet Jesus went to the cross for sinners like me.
He did not die because we were good enough to deserve Him. He died because we could never save ourselves.
That is grace. That is mercy. That is the Gospel.
4. The standard for heaven is perfection—not being better than the next person
Romans 3:23 says:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 says:
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Notice the contrast. Sin earns death, but eternal life is God’s gift through Jesus Christ.
The Bible doesn’t teach that we get into heaven by being a little better than our neighbor, by having more good deeds than bad deeds, or by being a generally decent person.
God is holy. His standard is perfect righteousness.
Have you ever had a sinful thought? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever done something you knew was wrong? Have you ever failed to do what you knew was right?
If we’re honest, every one of us has.
James 2:10 makes the seriousness of sin clear:
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
I’m reminded of a conversation I had several years ago while witnessing to a man from Canada on an airplane. I explained to him that God’s standard was perfection. Even after hearing that, he still believed he met the standard.
But think about it: if a person claims never to have sinned, that claim itself conflicts with what Scripture says about the human condition.
First John 1:8 says:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
The problem is that many people have compared themselves to other people rather than to God’s standard.
They say, “I’m a good person. I’ve never murdered anyone. I try to treat people well. I give to charity. I help my family.”
Those things may be good, but they do not erase our sins or make us perfectly righteous before a holy God.
The question is not whether you are a good person compared with other people. The question is whether you are righteous before God.
And according to Scripture, none of us can achieve that righteousness through our own efforts.
That is precisely why we need Jesus.
5. What about my Catholic friends who believe they’re going to heaven because they’re good people?
I say this with love and not with a desire to offend anyone.
I’ve spoken with people who believe they are going to heaven because they’ve lived a good life, followed religious traditions, attended church, or tried to do more good than bad.
Some are Catholic. Others belong to Protestant churches. Some don’t identify with any religion at all.
The issue is not the label they use. The issue is what they are trusting in for salvation.
If someone says, “I’m going to heaven because I’m a good person,” I would lovingly ask: How good is good enough for a perfectly holy God?
And if the answer is that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, where does the Bible say that is God’s plan of salvation?
Ephesians 2:8–9 says salvation is by grace through faith, not by works.
Romans 4:5 says:
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
That is an extraordinary promise. God justifies the ungodly who trust in Him.
This does not mean good works are unimportant. Ephesians 2:10, the very next verse after the passage about salvation by grace, says we are created in Christ Jesus for good works.
The order matters: we are not saved by our good works; we are saved by God’s grace and then called to live in a way that honors Him.
I also want to be clear that Catholics do not all believe the same thing about salvation. Catholic teaching itself speaks about God’s grace and the necessity of Christ. My concern is with anyone—Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise—who believes personal goodness can earn eternal life or who has no assurance because they think salvation depends on achieving a sufficient balance of good and bad deeds.
And there is another danger on the opposite end of the spectrum: assuming we’re already guaranteed heaven simply because we consider ourselves good people.
Our confidence must rest in Christ, not in our own moral résumé.
6. What if you aren’t sure Jesus was even a real person?
You may be thinking, “I wasn’t there. How can I know Jesus really existed?”
That’s a fair question, and it’s worth examining honestly.
We believe many things about history without personally witnessing them. Most Americans believe George Washington was the first president of the United States. None of us living today met him. We believe it because there are historical records and evidence.
In the same way, Jesus’ existence is supported by ancient sources outside the New Testament, including the Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus, although scholars debate some details in the surviving references.
We don’t need to pretend we personally witnessed the first century to investigate what happened there.
But perhaps your question is deeper. Maybe you accept that Jesus existed but aren’t sure He rose from the dead.
That brings us to the foundation of Christianity.
7. What about the resurrection? Would the disciples die for a lie?
Before Jesus was crucified, His disciples were frightened. Peter denied knowing Him three times. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples scattered.
Then the New Testament records that they encountered the risen Jesus.
The message they proclaimed afterward was radically different. They publicly preached that Jesus had risen from the dead, even when doing so brought opposition, imprisonment, and suffering.
Consider Peter, who had denied Jesus out of fear, later boldly proclaiming the resurrection.
Consider the transformation of the disciples from frightened followers into public witnesses who insisted that Jesus was alive.
The New Testament also records the martyrdom of several early Christian leaders. The historical details and evidence vary from one apostle to another, and we cannot confidently establish that every apostle died a martyr’s death. The traditional account holds that John died naturally, while accounts of the deaths of several others come from later Christian traditions.
But here is the important point: the earliest Christian witnesses sincerely believed they had encountered the risen Christ, and their proclamation continued despite severe persecution.
Would someone knowingly die for something they knew was a lie?
People can die for mistaken beliefs, but knowingly inventing a story and then enduring persecution for that invention is a different matter. The disciples’ testimony deserves serious consideration.
First Corinthians 15:14 says:
“And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
Christianity does not rest merely on the idea that Jesus was a wise teacher or a good man. It rests on the claim that He died for our sins and rose again.
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian message collapses. But if He did rise, everything changes.
8. The question is not whether you deserve heaven. None of us does.
I am not writing this because I believe I am better than you.
I am a sinner who needs a Savior.
I cannot undo my sins by doing good deeds. I cannot make myself perfectly righteous. I cannot stand before God and present a list of accomplishments that erases my failures.
My hope is Jesus Christ.
The same is true for you, regardless of whether you were raised Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, another religion, or no religion at all.
I know that these words challenge deeply held beliefs, and I do not expect everyone to agree with me. But I ask you to examine the claims of Jesus and the message of Scripture for yourself.
Don’t simply accept what I say. Read the Bible. Consider the evidence. Ask God to lead you to the truth.
Jesus did not go to the cross so that we could spend our lives wondering whether we had done enough good deeds to outweigh our sins.
He came because we could not save ourselves.
Romans 5:8 says:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
God loved us while we were still sinners.
That is the love displayed at the cross.
9. What must you do?
Romans 10:9 gives us the promise:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Salvation is not about pretending you’ve never sinned. It’s about acknowledging your need for God’s mercy and placing your faith in Jesus Christ.
It means turning away from sin and trusting in what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection—not in your own ability to earn God’s acceptance.
If you have never done that, I encourage you to seek God sincerely, examine the Scriptures, and consider the claims of Jesus for yourself.
You could express your faith in a prayer like this:
“God, I acknowledge that I have sinned and that I cannot make myself righteous through my own efforts. I believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and that You raised Him from the dead. I confess Jesus as Lord and place my trust in Him for salvation. Please forgive me, transform my heart, and teach me to follow You. I want my life to honor You. Amen.”
A prayer is not a formula that earns salvation. What matters is genuine faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Please don’t stake your eternity on the assumption that you’re a good person. Put your trust in the Savior who gave His life for you.
The question isn’t whether you’ve done enough to deserve heaven.
The question is whether you will trust the One who died and rose again to save you.
Jesus Christ is Lord. He died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. And the gift of eternal life is found in Him.
That is the Gospel I believe, the Gospel I want others to hear, and the reason I am sharing this message with you.
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