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Check below the item or items upon which you are basing your hopes for reaching Heaven after you die.

1. Trying to keep the Ten Commandments

2. Gifts to charity

3. Doing one’s best

4. Leading a good life

5. Good works

6. Trying to obey the Golden Rule

7. Tithing or giving money to the church

8. Church membership

9. Regular church attendance

10. Prayers

11. Fasting

12. Baptism

13. Holy communion

14. Born of Christian parents

15. Confirmation

16. Penances

17. Extreme unction

18. Membership in a lodge or fraternity

Now find out if you are on the way to Heaven.

If you have checked...

No. 1—You are definitely not on the way to Heaven. The Bible states unmistakably: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His [God’s] sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11).

No. 2, 3 or 4—You are basing your hopes on something which, according to God’s Word, will never save you.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

No. 5. 6 or 7—You will never see Heaven’s golden streets, for the emphatic declaration of God is:

“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” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

No. 8, 9, 10 or 11—You are bound for Hell, not Heaven. Although these things are all good in themselves, and although they might seem to you to be sufficient to save you, God declares in His sacred Word:

“We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away: (Isaiah 64:6).

No. 12 or 13—You are utterly mistaken and deluded. Baptism and communion are for those who are already saved, for those who are true believers (Acts 2:41; 1 Corinthians 11:2, 23-32). These ordinances cannot save anyone and were never intended to do so.

No. 14—You are resting your soul on a false hope. Children born into Christian homes need to be saved like anyone else. This is stated plainly in John 1:12,13:

“As many as received Him [Christ], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

“Not of blood” means “not of one’s parentage.” One must be born of God to be saved.

No. 15, 16, 17 or 18—You should wake up before it is too late. None of these things are even mentioned in the Bible. They are merely inventions of men, and it is nothing short of ridiculous to hope to reach Heaven by any of these means.

Therefore, the inescapable conclusion is that the way to Heaven is not found in any one or in any combination of the items listed on the front page. Even if you did all of these things, you would still fail in your attempt to enter Heaven’s gates at last.

What, then, is the divinely ordained way of salvation? The Bible gives a very definite answer. The one and only means of spending eternity with God in Heaven is FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALONE.

It was because man could not save himself by any means that God sent His only begotten Son to die as a substitute for sinners. If man could have achieved righteousness in some other way, then obviously the Saviour need not have died.

When the Lord Jesus died on Calvary and rose again on the third day, He finished the work necessary for salvation. Now all that God requires is that we should feel our need of Him and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.

Thus we read over and over in the Bible that the way to Heaven is by believing on the Son of God.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

“He that believeth on Him is not condemned” (John 3:18).

In short, man is a sinner and cannot reach Heaven by so-called good works, good character, personal effort, or merit of any kind. His only hope of salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ upon Calvary’s cross. Thus, when the sinner trusts the Savior, he is saved and, on the authority of God’s Word, is bound for the promised land—Heaven.

Now the question is, “Will you accept God’s way of salvation?” Will you renounce the dead works in which you are now trusting, and base your hopes for Heaven henceforth upon the finished work of Christ?

The choice is yours. You may continue to trust in those things listed on the cover. If so, you will go to a Christ-less grave, and wake up in a lost eternity. Or you may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Your eternity depends upon it.

—William MacDonald

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