Losing my mother in 2006 after a short battle she had with Ovarian cancer is a reminder to me of just how short life is, and how important it is that we are prepared to enter eternity.  It’s also a reminder to me of the many people who have never grasped the difference between religion and knowing Jesus through a personal relationship.

For many years I prayed for Mom’s eyes to be opened to know Jesus personally.  I’m glad to say that she did come to that place before she died.  She left behind her religious upbringing which was very ingrained in her to become a true follower of Jesus.  But what about the many who have never come to understand the difference between religion and actually knowing Jesus?  Their eternal future hangs in the balance…

Are you on your way to heaven?

On my website I share many posts that deal with the differences between religion and having a relationship with Jesus.  These posts are intended to make you think about eternity and where you will spend it.  I realize that some people will be offended by what I write concerning “religion”.

The truth is, I’m offended by the fact that we have allowed so many to believe that religion can save them.

How can we sit back and not tell people the truth?

At one time I was also among those who had no clue that the only way to heaven is found through a person, not a religious system.  We should be shouting it from the housetops, but we’re so afraid of what people think that we keep silent.  What excuse can we possibly give for our silence when we stand before Him on that final day?

My story’s a simple one… When I was young I had somewhat of a religious upbringing.  My best friend’s Dad even pastored a church, so for a time in my life I went to church with him.  Sometimes I’d hear stuff on the radio about God, but it often seemed to me that they were just trying to make God look cool to teens.  It was a turn off.  I knew God was more than about being cool.  Whatever exposure I had to religion and church wasn’t having much of an effect on me.  I was seeking something real with God, but I wasn’t finding it.  I never found what I was looking for in “church”, and eventually got back into psychic stuff which had I dabbled in.  But that was all about to change- In the summer of 1984, when I was least expecting it, Jesus opened my eyes and totally changed my life!

All of my life I had thought of Jesus as being about religion.  Suddenly I realized it wasn’t about that at all!  It was actually possible to know Jesus personally.  It wasn’t religion He came to bring; He brought Himself.  He showed up Himself!  Well, that was it.  I became born again and began to follow Jesus.

My family didn’t really understand what had happened to me when I became born again.  Suddenly I was toting around a bible and talking about Jesus all the time.  I used to wear a t-shirt that was specially made for me that said, “Jesus is not religious!”  I remember Mom saying to me, “What do you mean He’s not religious?  Of course He’s religious!”  I prayed and prayed she’d one day understand.

While religion might make us feel safe, or make us feel spiritual, it can never take us to heaven when we die.  We need Jesus to do that.  Christian singer Keith Green said it best:

“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger!”

Unfortunately, far too many people believe that going to church DOES make them a Christian.  They’re staking their eternity on it; hoping that going to church and trying to be a good person will be enough, and God will let them into heaven when they die.

When death comes

Ten years before Mom died, she came to see that religion wasn’t enough, and she gave her life to Jesus.  Never again did I hear Mom say that she hoped to get to heaven by trying to be “good enough” or because she went to church.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”

It hurts to know that in this world I will never be seeing my Mom, or be spending time with her again.  But for me there’s something that goes beyond that… the overwhelming joy I have knowing that my mother had given her life to Jesus, that she is now in heaven, and one day we will see each other again.

The bible tells us to consider the day of death because it’s the end of us all. (Ecclesiastes 7:2) We all have to face it, and we should think long and hard about it.  I for one don’t want to be putting my trust in religion assuming I can get to heaven that way.

If you’re trusting in your “religion” to get you to heaven I urge you to let go of it and to take hold of Jesus instead.  Heaven and hell are real places.  Heaven is the home of those who have given their lives to Jesus and look to Him alone for eternal life.

It would be great if every church had a big sign in front of their church building saying, “Church can’t save you!  You must be born again!”

If you want to get to heaven you must be “born again”.  (see John 3:3-5)

I’m probably not going to be able to say this any better than other times I’ve tried, but when is the church going to wake up and start taking this truth seriously?

One of the greatest tragedies on planet earth is that God showed us how to get to heaven, and instead of clearing the debris so people can find the way, we let the path be littered with human traditions of “church” that will do us no good when we die!

For most of my formative years I never knew that I “must be born again” to get to heaven.  Jesus made it as plain as day, and even though I went to various churches and was seeking for “spiritual things” I missed that message.  I missed the most important truth that any human being needs to hear!  You know what I do remember from my youth and my time spent “going to church”?  A sermon where the pastor used a hot dog to illustrate his message.  (Actually, I don’t remember the sermon, I just remember the pastor going up front with a ketchup bottle and a hot dog.)  Now that will really help prepare me for eternity!  I also remember sitting in the car at various times hearing something on the radio about God.  I was seeking so I’d sometimes tune in and listen, but it always seemed so “fake” to me, like they were trying to make God look cool, and it was a big turn off.  I figured if God was truly “GOD” He had to be about more than what we would think of as “cool”- I mean this is God we’re talking about here!

You know what else I remember from my time in church when I was young?  Sitting in church sometimes and being so bored I wanted to scream!  Yes, literally scream.  I never did, but I certainly felt like I could at any minute.  “Why does any of this matter?  Why am I sitting in this place?”, was pretty much what it boiled down to.  I felt closer to God going outside and taking a walk than I did in that building!  Creation at least seemed alive! 

Now the tragedy is that “going to church”, and being around God’s people, should have been the perfect place for me to experience the living God.  It should have been the one place where I’d be told, “You must be born again to get to heaven.”  Maybe I was told that, but I sure don’t remember it.  I was there enough times that I should have remembered something of that sort!  When I was really, really young I remember having to go to the Catholic church.  I remember the robes, the statues, the candles, the priest’s voice echoing so much I couldn’t understand it- and I remember how I hated kneeling all the time on those kneeling boards.  I also remember the prayer beads and rote “chanting” over and over the same things.  I don’t remember being told that I must personally be born again to get to heaven!  I can remember a lot of religious stuff from my youth, but what did this stuff have to do with Jesus?

You know where I finally found Jesus?  In my bedroom.  It happened after my brother had a conversation with me about the psychic stuff I was involved in and my brother told me I needed Jesus and not astrology.  I began to seek the truth after that conversation.  You know where else I first began to become aware of my need for Jesus?  On a car ride home from Nashville as I listened to a man I’d just met while performing for a TV show there.  He needed a ride home.  I gave him a ride, and as we went down the highway he asked me if I “knew Jesus”.  I thought I did, and I told the guy I did… of course, I now know that that I didn’t know Him at all.  I knew religion, I knew stuff I’d been told and seen in church, saw on TV or heard on the radio- but I didn’t really know Jesus; I wasn’t actually “born again”.  I believed I was “a Christian” just like most people you ask in America will say they are “Christian” if you ask them.  I never knew that to be a real Christian you had to be “born again”.  If I would have died that night driving home from Nashville I never would have made it to heaven.  You can’t get there without being “born again”, and I wasn’t.

That’s why I press this issue so hard.  I can’t understand why the church doesn’t go on a huge campaign to let people know the truth!  Shouldn’t this be job #1 for the church?  Churches should be the first ones tearing down the walls of misunderstanding and helping people to know that “going to church” isn’t enough, that being “religious” won’t get people to heaven.  They should be clearing up this mess!  When you’ve got most of America believing they’re “Christian” simply because they “go to church” or “believe in Jesus” in some vague way like I once did, there’s a real problem.  I was lost and headed for hell, don’t you think it might have been important for me to know that fact?  Isn’t it unconscionable to let people slip into hell without warning them?  We’ll collect their tithes and give them religious services, make them members and tell them all is well with their souls- but we fail to mention the single most important thing that they need to hear to get to heaven and spend eternity with God?  “All is NOT well with your soul… You must be born again!”  Why didn’t somebody tell me that in the years I went to church?  When are we going to seriously address ONE OF THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES that looms over the church?  Are we are so worried about being “nice” that we fail to warn people about this subject?

I’ll finish this post as I started it-

It would be great if every church had a big sign out in front of their church building saying, “Church can’t save you!  You must be born again!”

1. Every church should be frequently reminding people that without being “born again” there is no hope of heaven.
2. Without a “saving faith” in Jesus Christ that results in being “born from above” there is no entrance into heaven.
3. Without being “Born of the Spirit of God” there is no eternal home in heaven waiting for you.
4. Religion cannot save you.
5. You must be born again!  (see John 3:3-5)

Eternal life is only found in Jesus Christ- You must be born again to get to heaven!

I spent most of my years growing up never knowing the truth about Jesus Christ and my need to be “born again”.  I don’t want you to be able to say on the day you die, “Mike never told me this!  How come I went to his website over and over again, and he never told me this one simple thing I needed to hear the most?”  Well, I’m telling you: You must be “born again” to go to heaven.  You must be born of God’s Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ otherwise you will never get to heaven- He is the only way.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

The following links are here to help you to learn more about being “born again” and how to get to heaven:

If you want to learn more about being ‘Born Again”:

Heaven, hell, and eternal life in Jesus

More posts on this topic:

I can’t believe I’m born again!

Jesus is not religious

The “unsaved church”: Do we care at all?

Today is the day of salvation: share Jesus before it’s too late!

Gaining the world, but losing your soul?

You are the One!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”  (Galatians 5:1)

There are some that believe that true freedom comes from escaping the “institutional church”; they would rather sit at home alone for 20 years than be a part of “that”.  The truth is, true freedom is when you can receive from a mega church as well as a home fellowship; when you’re truly free you can accept the fact that God is able to work in either situation, and does.  When you’re truly free, you will see that there are pluses and minuses to both.  There are “bad” home churches and there are “bad” mega churches, and sitting home alone can be even worse for you than being a part of something that you don’t totally like.  If you’re really free in the freedom that Christ has come to give, you will be able to admit that.

I am free to go where Christ leads me, period.  THAT is freedom.  I must add, however…

A word of caution:

I do not believe Christ will lead me contrary to His Word.  We are living in a time of unparalleled apostasy, rejection of God’s Word, downplaying of doctrine, and deconstruction and reconstruction of the church and truth.  It should be understood that anything that I say here is with the understanding that God’s Word is the supreme litmus test of what is and isn’t true.  When I speak about going where Christ leads me and being free to accept other structures, I am talking about outward things like whether to gather in a building or a home, and the various forms our gatherings might take, I am NOT talking about freedom to develop whole new church and life philosophies that are not found in God’s Word.  Be very careful of those who would downplay the need of sound doctrine in preference to an experiential faith.  We are warned:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”  (1 Timothy 4:1)

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine…”  (2 Timothy 4:3)

The downplaying of doctrine and God’s Word is a clear sign of apostasy.  If you notice this going on, STEER CLEAR and do not entertain the idea of being a part of whatever it is, be it books, blogs, churches etc.  With that in mind…

Traditional church, mega church, home church?

I wholeheartedly believe in home fellowships and believe the future lies there.  I believe that is the direction God has been leading me for many years.  The early church met that way and it’s entirely biblical.  There are many good reasons to move in that direction that are completely scriptural.  But I am not afraid or blind to the fact that God is working through others who are in structures that are quite different than where I have planted my feet.  And I am not afraid to lift up my feet and plant them somewhere else if that’s what God wants.  I am free in Christ!

I’ve been a part of three mega churches since becoming a Christian, a couple home churches, and a few medium sized fellowships.  Do you know what the common denominator was?  I tried to be where God placed me; I went where Jesus was.  I have seen good and bad things in the biggest church I’ve been a part of to the smallest home fellowship.  I refuse to be a slave by shutting out my options.  I am free in Christ!

This post could be written to traditional churches that refuse to see home fellowships as “real churches”, as well as home churches that see every traditional church or mega church as “Ichabod”.  Do you not see what you’re going?  God will not allow you to put Him in your box either way!  He has a habit of showing up wherever HE wants to, and in the most unexpected places!  If you’re really “free in Christ” you will be able to accept that.

Are home churches a ticket out of apostasy?

I’ve been totally blessed by “mega churchers” and totally freaked out by “home churchers”… and vise versa; apostasy is happening in BOTH.  The sooner we realize that the better.  Home churches are not a ticket out of apostasy; it could very well be a ticket for you to grave error if you’re not careful!  You are not safe either just because you attend a large church that looks “respectable”.  If you’ve just “checked out” completely and are sitting at home all by yourself, you better be very careful- being an “out of church” Christian is an oxymoron.  The last time I checked we’re still “the Body of Christ”; Ekklesia means, “called out ones” not called out “one”.

Ekklesia also has the specific meaning of an assembly or congregation. 

Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 14:26: “What shall we say, brothers?  WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation…” etc.  Paul assumes the church will come together- it’s a given.  All of the instruction given afterwards makes no sense outside of the church gathering together.  We cannot do these things sitting at home alone! 

I have written this specifically for those who have started on the “Home Church” journey.  I don’t believe God is looking for a bunch of disgruntled malcontents tearing down “The Church”.  Until you are free to see God at work in His Body, whatever the structure, I don’t believe you are yet truly free.

To those who are part of “traditional churches” I would also say, “Be careful that you not speak against the home church movement: These are God’s people too, and just because they meet in a home doesn’t make them any less a “real church”!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”  (Galatians 5:1)

Are you truly free?

How do you become a Prodigal son or daughter?  It’s not that hard really; all you have to do is walk away from the Father’s love.  Sometimes we just walk away and everyone knows it; we go back to the pigpen of the world and it’s obvious to everyone.  Sometimes it happens like erosion; we don’t even know how we got where we are.  We’re still “talkin’ the talk”, going to church, smiling our Christian smile… but if we just stop to think about it, there’s nothing inside; it’s not real anymore.  You’ve become a prodigal. 

The scariest thing is that you can be a Prodigal and not even know it!  Jesus tells the church of Laodicea that they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”… but they have no clue! They have “Prodigal” written all over their foreheads but don’t see it at all. You can look, sound, and act like a Christian… and be a million miles away from your Father’s house.

I wrote this song because I’ve been there, and it just seemed such a strange contradiction to be a “Child of the King” and be so empty inside. Our Father’s heart is that we’d come to our senses and return home. He’s so ready to receive us with open arms!

The Prodigal Son:  Luke 15:11-31

The song, “It Shouldn’t Be Like That”  is available at iTunes and amazon.com .  Also available on my site here, and at CD Baby here , and at other download sites.