'Were Merv Griffin and Leona Helmsley Born Again?'
By J. Grant Swank Jr. (09/02/07)
For those who think that a trivial question, they are quite mistaken.
Further, I have no idea whether Merv and Leona were born again. God knows.
However, what I read in what Christians regard as divine revelation is that Jesus stated that unless a soul is born again, that soul cannot enter heaven. Therefore, it appears that that recorded account from the lips of deity incarnate is of eternal significance.
Jesus went on to explain that one is born of the flesh when conceived in the female’s womb. However, that is not requisite by which a soul enters into eternal life. One must then be born, not only of the flesh, but of the spirit.
In other words, the human spirit is dead until it comes alive in Jesus. Until that happens, mortals walk around on this Earth alive in their physical frames but dead in their eternal soul components.
Jesus went on to state that if one is not born a second time in the soul, the soul then inhabitants eternal damnation. Consequently, according to Jesus, there are only two everlasting dimensions following mortal’s death—heaven and hell.
One of the most quoted verses in holy writ is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
In other words, there are the two eternal dimensions: perishing or living forever in heaven’s beatitude.
So that always brings to mind what happens to these “name people” when they die? Were they born in the soul as well as born in the flesh? Did they surrender their repentant souls to Jesus for salvation or did they count on this life as being okay without saving grace?
Of course every day 100,000 mortals leave Earth through death. So the “little people,” as Hemlsley referred to the non-name persons, must be confronted with the same query. When the little people die, did they prepare for eternity by being born again or did they blithely go on every day as if they were okay?
After all, it does not matter in God’s eyes whether one has attained to earthly fame and celebrity status. That is irrelevant as far His judgment upon the eternal soul is concerned. It is what a mortal has done with the sacrificial death of Christ upon Calvary that counts in God’s estimation.
Therefore, once again when name persons such as Griffin and Helmsley left us recently, the question comes to my mind. I wonder if they had lived for this life alone or did they prepare in Jesus for the final judgment?
Then I recalled all the press given to Merv’s funeral. The celebrities who attended were pictured on television for the world to witness. As I looked into those faces and thought of the striking sanctuary in which the funeral was held, I asked myself: Are those mortals counting on their status in something or other or have they made peace with Jesus through repenting of their sins, receiving His saving grace and living for Him?
The striking sanctuary for a funeral will not save a soul. The denominational tag one wears will not save a soul. The church work performed by the high and mighty or lowly and humble will not guarantee heaven. Religious titles will not either. A grand eulogy pronounced during a funeral service will not mean a thing if that corpse does not represent a departed saved soul.
Jesus made it clear that there has to be a happening in the soul to prepare for eternal bliss. It is being, in other words, born again—of the spirit.
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