heaven - Stone The Preacher

Is Kirk Douglas in Heaven?

Feb 6, 2020Steve Sanchez2 CommentsFamous and Not-So, Famous Lost Wordseternity, heaven, hell, kirk douglas

KIRK DOUGLAS DIED TODAY AT AGE 103. What did he believe about God? Did he go to Heaven?

In an Esquire interview in 2001 he said this:

“The more I’ve studied the Torah, the less religious I’ve become, the more spiritual. We Jews are taught to read Hebrew, but we don’t know what the hell we’re reading. At Yom Kippur services, I was reading the English translations, and it came to me: There’s so much adoration of God, but God doesn’t need us to sing his praises. He just wants us to be better people.
“Muslims follow Muhammad to reach God. Christians follow Jesus. Jews follow Moses. But it’s all the same God.
“Maybe when you die, you come before a big, bearded man on a big throne, and you say, ‘Is this heaven?’ And he says, ‘Heaven? You just came from there.’
“Religion has killed millions of people. Something must be wrong.”

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2017, he explained,

“I grew up praying in the morning and laying tefillin, but I gave up much of the formal aspect of religion. I believe in God and I’m happy to be a Jew. But I think too much religion has not helped civilization. Caring for other people is my religion.”

Caring for people is wonderful, but no amount of good deeds will get anyone to heaven. The only way anyone has a relationship with God is by putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins.

The Most Famous Sermon Ever Preached

Jul 8, 2016Steve Sanchez1 CommentHIStorygospel, heaven, hell, jonathan edwards, preaching, sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God

On this day in 1741, the future president of Princeton College preached the most famous American sermon ever in Northhampton, Massachusetts. Many listeners responded in this way: “What shall I do to be saved? Oh, I am going to Hell.” Some crowded toward the pulpit begging the preacher to stop. At one point in the

Like Father, Like Son

Jun 3, 2016Steve SanchezAppointments W/Eternitychurch, decision, good news, gospel, heaven, hell, last hour, living waters, ray comfort, salvation, way of the master

Last time, I shared about Jerry, a man who was given a few weeks to live while he was in hospice care at a Veteran’s hospital. I shared the good news that Jesus Christ saves sinners; he believed, repented, was baptized on the spot in his room…then five days later, he went directly into the arms of his Savior. (Read about it here.)

Did I fail to mention that Jerry’s son witnessed the whole thing?

Jerry’s Next Step

May 24, 2016Steve Sanchez1 CommentUncategorizeddecision, gospel, heaven, hell, last hour, salvation

JERRY HAD ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT because of a terminal illness, so his wife asked me to visit him at the Veteran’s Hospital so that I could give him the Gospel. I started the conversation by asking him what his next step would be. He pointed upwards.

“Heaven?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Why are you going there, Jerry?”

“Because I’m a good person….”

I gently explained that no one is good enough and asked if he had kept God’s Ten Commandments, which is God’s Moral Law. He understood that he was a liar, a thief, an adulterer-at-heart, a murderer and a blasphemer, that he’d be found guilty on Judgment Day and he’d end up in Hell because of his sin. I vividly described the consequences of his sin and the reality of Hell for all those who would die unforgiven.

Author! Author? (Part 4 of “Preaching Jonathan Edwards”)

Aug 11, 2008Steve Sanchez1 CommentGood Newsgospel, heaven, hell, John Jeffery Fanella, jonathan edwards, Max McLean, preaching, sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God

I was pleasantly surprised to read that John Jefferey Fanella, the author of the updated version of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” had read my postings about preaching that great sermon (read those articles starting here), and left a very nice comment. Here it is: Steve: I was delighted to hear of