“Is my name written in heaven” is a question every salvation seeker needs to ask him/herself periodically.  If that question was put to every church member on earth the answer would be a confident “Yes.”  Would God agree with them?  In this series we will look to Him for the answer to that question.  In the series titled “All That Glitters” and “Would God Do That? (key words Glitters and Would respectively) I point out that what religious man “knows” to be Bible “truth” is more often than not a Satanic lie, either in whole or in part.  Either way, it is not the whole Truth of God relative to the subject under discussion.  Concerning the heavenly roster, let us study the life and work of Christ’s disciples who served Him in ministry while He was on earth to determine what is Scriptural Truth and what is church “truth.”  We will find that the two “truths” are as opposite as light is from darkness, as holiness is from sin, as life is from death.  See the Introduction to this website for a few examples of church “truths” that the Almighty clearly refutes and are abominations to Him.

Let us turn to the tenth chapter of Luke’s epistle and begin with verse one.  Here we find Jesus sending out 70 disciples to do what He commanded all of His ministerial disciples to do as recorded in Matthew 10:8: “… preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out devils: freely you have received (power to do those things), freely give”–use that power to minister to the people.  Nothing has changed.  His instructions to His modern day apostles are the same as in days of old.

In this episode Jesus is sending out His disciples to minister in places where He would later be preaching.  In verses 2-16 He gives them instructions as to what to do, what to expect and what how to react.  In verse 17 we find the 70 later returning from their ministerial journey and proclaiming: “Lord, even the devils are subject to us through Your name.”  In verse 20 Jesus says to them: “Do not rejoice because evil spirits are subject to (controlled by) you.  Rather, rejoice that YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.  This group included the 12 original disciples, including Judas, who as a thief who stole the group’s donations from the money bag which he had been assigned to carry (Jn. 12:6).  Notice that Jesus told all 70 of the disciples, including Judas, that their names were written in heaven.  They had declared their belief in and allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth.  They knew that God had sent Him and that He had the power of God by which they had ministered.  Was that enough to please Jesus and His Father?

To find out let us turn to John 6:29-71 where we find Jesus explaining to the 70 the many different aspects of the Christian walk, some of which the disciples had not heard before.  In verse 59 we find some of them saying: “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”  Jesus talked to them a while longer, knowing that they were not really sold out to Him.  In verse 66 we find it written that “From that time on many of His DISCIPLES  went back into the world and refused to walk with Him (live as He lived).”  At this point He asked the remaining 12 if they too were going to abandon Him.  Peter replied that there was no place for them to go in that only He had the WORDS of eternal life.  Also, Peter confessed what all of them knew and what all of them believed “… that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  If the 12 knew this, did not the other 58 know it?  At this point Jesus told them that there was a traitor among them who would betray Him to the Jewish priests and that the disciple “IS A DEVIL.”  Note it: Jesus used a human devil and 59 false disciples to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out devils by the power of the Holy Spirit that was “WITH” them, not yet “IN” them.  The infilling of the Holy Spirit would take place on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D.

Judas had been so “religious” that no one realized what was going on within his heart (mind).  His ministry was no different from the others in terms of power and effectiveness.  Because of this, no one knew who among them was the “devil.”   No one knew who the thieving traitor was WHOSE NAME WAS WRITTEN IN HEAVEN BECAUSE HE PROCLAIMED THE NAME OF JESUS AND OPERATED UNDER THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  This presents a clear, yet confusing scenario to those who do not study God’s “fine print.”  Here we find Judas, a thief and a traitor, staying with the Lord Whom he knew was the Son of God.  The problem was that he also “knew” that, even though he was a sinner, all would work out fine because he lived with Jesus, heard His Words, preached His Gospel and ministered in His name.  Sound familiar?

I once had an ordained minister tell me that he sinned “thousands of times” each day but that the Lord had it all covered.  When I left his house I “shook the dust off my feet.”  Another ordained minister referred to herself as “this old sinner saved by grace.”  Another, a local pastor with a large t.v. following, told his congregation, “Don’t even try to be righteous, you’ll just make yourself sick.  You’re nothing but a society of sinners.”  How many times have I heard uber-religious people proclaim: “You can’t obey the Law,” even if it had not been “nailed to the cross.”  This is the same Law that defines holiness and sin–holiness if obeyed and sin if not obeyed (1 Jn. 3:4).  Many, especially the VIPs (Very Important Persons) like movie stars, athletes, musicians, etc. will wear crosses, profess Jesus, attend church, etc., all the while engaging in some of the most vile activities.  As I related in the series titled The Real Elvis, the world famous “Christian” who openly bragged about his sexual exploits was sitting in a limo talking about the woman with whom he had spent the previous night when he noticed the camera mounted to the roof.  Having been caught, he looked into it and began to sing: “What a friend we have in Jesus.”  He said what all other “sinners saved by grace” believe–that he could sin at will and God would do nothing about it because he was “saved,” wore crosses, talked about God, sang religious songs, was friends of one of the most famous preachers of the day, etc.  At one time his name might have been written in heaven like the 58 disciples who, after preaching the Gospel, healing the sick and casting out devils, “left Him (Jesus) and went back into the world” where their hearts had been all along.  They were not deceiving Jesus for He “… KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THEY WERE WHOSE HEARTS WERE NOT TRULY WITH HIM AND WHO WOULD BETRAY HIM (Jn. 6:64).  He gave them a chance to turn from Satan and follow Him.  He had given Judas, who was a thief before meeting Him, a chance to handle money and overcome Satan.  Only 11 of the 70 made the cut.  Of the original 70, only the names of the 11 remained on God’s heavenly roll.  Read All That Glitters.  Key word–Glitters.  L.J.