I’ve been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since the age of twelve, when I made my profession of faith during my baptism before the entire congregation of the First Baptist Church in my small hometown in Oklahoma. I then strayed away from God as a teenager and I became a backslider for forty years. During my time out of fellowship with the Lord I was always subconsciously aware that God was pursuing me; trying to bring me back into fellowship. God was always constant, faithful, and relentless. God never stopped loving me no matter how much I sinned. That’s why God is called the, “hound of heaven.” Once you belong to God he never ever lets go of you. Now God does have the option of bringing you home early if your sin grieves him too much. However, your salvation is secure once you’ve been saved. You can never lose your salvation and become “unsaved.” I can’t remember the name of my pastor back when I was twelve or the names of my various Sunday school teachers at that time. That was sixty years ago and I’m a forgetful old man now. What I do remember is they all had a hand in witnessing the gospel of Christ to me and guiding me to salvation unto eternal life through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They are my heroes because they loved me enough to save me. God bless them every one!
Deuteronomy 31:6 – Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5 – Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
A hero is someone who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements. There is no outstanding achievement that can top saving someone’s soul to heaven for all eternity. Every believer who shares the gospel message of Christ with a nonbeliever and harvests that soul for the kingdom of God is a hero before the Lord and also a hero to every other believer who does the “work” of God in his harvest field. So every believer has a hero who helped save them and, in turn, are heroes to those whom they help save. God’s salvation plan for man is all about believers saving nonbelievers. God accomplishes his will on earth through the actions of men. That’s what the Great Commission is all about. Believers cannot please God if they’re not obedient to this number one command of God. If you know your salvation is secure and yet you have no interest in helping save anyone else then you’re a disgrace to God and a disobedient son. You may be saved but you won’t receive any treasure from Jesus on the last day when you stand before the bema judgment seat of Christ. Don’t expect Jesus to say to you, “well done good and faithful servant.”
Matthew 16:27 – (Jesus) – For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father and with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
Matthew 4:19 – (Jesus) – Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.
I used to work with a guy who always referred to me as “hero.” The moniker didn’t fit back then but it does now. I am a hero and so is every other witness for Christ who declares their love for God and who dedicates their lives to saving lost souls for the kingdom of heaven. It’s no small thing to help change someone’s destiny from eternal death in hell to eternal life in heaven. It’s a noble calling so come join me if you want to please God. I love what God loves and I hate what God hates and so should you. God loves every creature created by his hand and God hates it when Satan puts blinders over the eyes of his children so they cannot see the truth of God. God hates it when Satan pulls a human soul down to the pit forever. I’ve been studying God’s word and witnessing for Christ since I returned to fellowship with the Lord, about twenty years ago, and in that time I estimate I’ve saved about eighty people to the kingdom of heaven, mostly through the use of “passive” witnessing on my Christian blog site and on my Christian tract website. In addition, I’ve passed out Christian tracts myself for ten years. I also distribute tracts, Bibles, and Christian literature to my seven prison ministry partners in four states. To please God every believer needs to save at least one more for Jesus because every soul that God makes is priceless in his eyes. How could that not be pleasing to God? More is always better but one person saved to heaven will get you treasure from God. Every believer needs to find ways to leverage their witness for Christ. Keep in mind that 90% of believers in heaven will be there through faith alone, never having even witnessed for Christ to save one person to heaven. That is so tragic!
1 Corinthians 3:12-13 – Now if anyone builds on this foundation (Jesus Christ) with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
1 Corinthians 3:14-15 – If anyone’s work which he has built on it (Christ) endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
There is a hierarchy in heaven for the angels. For example, archangels are ranked above regular angels. Lucifer was the top angel in heaven until he rebelled against God and was then imprisoned on earth and given the name Satan. There will also be a pecking order when the saints go to heaven. In heaven everyone can’t be a chief; somebody has to play the part of the Indians. The 90% of believers who didn’t save anyone to heaven will be the “Indians” of heaven, the “worker bees.” So what criteria does God use to rank us when we get to heaven? How does God select the rulers of his kingdom? There is only one possible criteria and that is to obey God’s number one command, which is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ to all nations and all people in order to save lost souls for the kingdom of God. The more people you save the higher your rank in heaven and the more treasure you store up in heaven. Precious stones, silver and gold are useless in heaven. The treasure levels in heaven refer to the responsibilities, privileges, honor, and glory given to each saint from God based on our “work” here on earth. Remember the parable of the talents. It also applies in heaven. Those who use what they were given (salvation) to help others to salvation will have a higher ranking in heaven based on the number of people they helped save. It’s as simple as that. The holy scriptures also confirm that some believers will produce more spiritual fruit (saved souls) than others; some at the level of thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and even a hundredfold while other believers will produce nothing. When you look at the reward levels revealed by God in his word it’s obvious to me that the lowest reward level that doesn’t burn up, precious stones, correlates to saving one person to heaven. The next reward level above that is the silver level which equates to a hundred saved souls because in scripture God says that a hundredfold is a good harvest.
Luke 1:15-16 – For he (John the Baptist) will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
Luke 3:3-4 – And he (John the Baptist) went into all the region around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.”
The highest reward level in heaven is the gold level and God doesn’t give us any clues how many saved souls it takes to reach that level other than to say it will take “many.” My goal is to save 1000 souls to heaven in my lifetime. It’s a difficult number to reach but it’s not impossible. I still have a long way to go. The number 1000 is important to God in scripture and it’s a multiple of 100 so it seems logical to me as the magic number to achieve the gold reward level. It’s a goal I came up with in my mind. Was it just me or did the Holy Spirit suggest it? To be on the safe side I kept praying to God to reveal to me if 1000 saved souls would be enough in his eyes for me to receive the treasures of the gold reward level. Sometimes God will answer the prayers of his saints through another man of God and it happened that way with me. I know a brother in Christ from Louisiana who I occasionally send Christian tracts and Bibles and in return he sends me photos of new believers his group has helped save. In a recent text he also revealed to me for the first time his goal is to save 1000 souls for heaven in his lifetime. That right there is God letting me know that 1000 saved souls for the gold level of rewards is correct; that it’s guidance from God. My brother in Louisiana is spiritually aware so he also realized God was responding to my prayer and it also confirmed for him that 1000 saved souls should be our common goal. We were both blessed by God as a result of my answered prayer.
Daniel 12:3 – Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Proverbs 11:30 – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
I’m guessing only about one percent of all the believers in heaven will be credited for saving at least 1000 souls to heaven. 1000 saved souls will qualify as “many” in God’s economy and the believer who accomplishes it will shine like the stars in the firmament according to Daniel 12:3. And according to Proverbs 11:30, he who wins souls is wise. We know all the original disciples will be in this “millennial club” because they were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in 33AD and then they spread out across the world to preach the gospel. All of the Apostles were martyred for their preaching except the youngest, John, who lived to an old age and died on the island of Patmos. So who else is a member of the “millennial” club? We know the Apostle Paul will be there because he served the Lord for forty years witnessing for Christ and establishing the early church throughout the known world. Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament and is universally considered to be the greatest Christian who ever lived. In heaven everyone will automatically know the rank of everyone else they meet because the glory each believer receives from God will emanate from their face and body like it did for Jesus during his transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
Luke 7: 26-29 – (Jesus) – But what did you go out to see? A prophet (John the Baptist)? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.” For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Mark 1:4-5 – John (the Baptist) came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Matthew 3:1-2 – In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
However, none of the people I’ve just mentioned will be the greatest hero in heaven. That distinction belongs to none other than John the Baptist. Why is that? Because John the Baptist saved the most people to heaven by his witness for God. John the Baptist probably saved at least 10,000 people for heaven. It’s true John the Baptist’s ministry was short; anywhere from one year to two and a half years. But during that short time John baptized many thousands of people in the Jordan River and ushed them into God’s kingdom. John the Baptist saved so many people he rightly earned the moniker of, “the Baptist.” John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus prophesied in the Bible and he baptized people with water as an example of what Jesus would later do with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist is the only person I know of in the Bible who was indwelt by the Holy Spirit their entire lives, from the womb until their death. John wasn’t just a prophet; he was a doer of God’s word.
Matthew 3:8, 10 – (John the Baptist) – Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 3:11- I (John the Baptist) indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
What do you suppose John was doing all those years in the wilderness from the age of twelve until age thirty when his ministry began? He was witnessing for God and saving souls for God’s kingdom one on one. Lastly, in the gospels Jesus himself confirms that John the Baptist is the greatest saint and prophet on earth and therefore later in heaven as well. That could only be true because of the number of people he saved to heaven because John the Baptist didn’t do anything else noteworthy. John the Baptist was a one trick pony but he was simply the best at what he did which was witnessing the glory of God and leading people to righteousness through repentance for the remission of sin. To repent means to express sincere regret. Keep in mind that the remission of sin is not the same as the forgiveness of sin. The remission of sins is merely the temporary removal of sin. The forgiveness of sins is permanent.
Isaiah 29:13 – Therefore the Lord said: Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.
Matthew 15: 8 – (Jesus) – These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
The forgiveness of the sins of all men, past, present, and future, is only possible because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. It’s why Jesus came to earth in the first place. Jesus came to die so we wouldn’t have to. The spirits of the righteous dead prior to the time of Christ went to paradise within the earth and they were taken to heaven by Jesus while he was three days in his tomb and before he rose from the dead. Jesus is God in the flesh. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is only God can forgive our sins and then only when we go to God in prayer. There’s an object lesson here to be learned by all Catholics in reviewing the life of John the Baptist. Here we have John the Baptist, the prophesied forerunner of Christ, who Jesus Christ himself proclaimed is the greatest saint and prophet on earth and therefore in heaven. Yet John was not allowed by God to forgive sins, only temporarily remove them. What does that tell you? If God won’t allow John the Baptist to forgive our sins then he won’t let any other human being forgive our sins either. No pope in heaven is greater than John. That should tell you that the Catholic pope is not Christ on earth and he cannot forgive our sins. That should tell you priests are not Jesus on earth and therefore cannot forgive your sins in the confession box. That should tell you that prayers to Mary, a human being, is falling on deaf ears because only God can hear our prayers and forgive our sins; and then only if those prayers are addressed to God alone. In Revelation 18:4-5 God is speaking directly to all believers in the Roman Catholic church. Everything I’m saying is confirmed in the Bible for all who want to seek the truth of God for themselves.
Matthew 15:9 – (Jesus) – And in vain they worship Me (Catholics), teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Revelation 18:4-5 – Come out of her (the Catholic church), my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
John the Baptist also showed his great personal courage by standing up to the Pharisees and by shaming King Herod to his face in the presence of his wife and nobles. The greatest saints in heaven are the prophets of God and the greatest prophet of all in heaven is John the Baptist. So the greatest hero in heaven is John the Baptist and if we want to be a hero in heaven and dine at John the Baptist’s table in heaven it would behoove us to emulate John the Baptist by witnessing for Christ to save many for the kingdom of God. You might not reach 1000 saved souls for heaven and that’s okay. The important thing is to set a goal for yourself and then begin your walk with the Lord where you are, in humble obedience, by witnessing for Christ in order to save one more for Jesus every day. God will help you with the rest if you call on him. If you do as I ask you’ll please God and on the last day you’ll hear Jesus say to you, “well done good and faithful servant.” This my testimony.
Isaiah 42:8 – I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another.
NOTE: When we pray to God for the forgiveness of sins God is glorified. The above verse tells us God will not allow or authorize anyone else to forgive the sins of man and thereby take God’s glory away from him. The Catholic pope and priests say they can forgive our sins. Somebody is lying to us. Either the pope is lying to us or God is lying to us. Since we know God cannot lie and the Bible is the inerrant word of God I believe God. That means the pope is a liar; all Catholic priests are liars; and every tenet of the Catholic church is based on a pack of lies. That means Satan has corrupted the Catholic church. In fact Satan has owned the Catholic church since the papacy of Gregory the Great in 600 AD and probably much earlier. That’s why we had the Protestant reformation.