Whose Name Is In The Book of Life????

A question was posted to me.......what are the qualifications for one to go to heaven (to have one's name in the Book of Life?, and conversely, the qualifications for one's name to be omitted? The items in bold italics below are his questions.

My problem is I love everyone and my hope is everyone is saved; though, I know this will probably not happen, the Bible teaches us there will be those thrown into the lake of fire.

Of course everyone will not be saved - wish though we might, that they all be. I dare say more will be unsaved due to the fact that there is ONE book of life and BOOKS of the unsaved. Hope and pray as we might, it's not up to us, it's up to the individual. Hell was created for Satan and his angels (those who followed him) - NOT for man. God did not intend for man to go there, but anyone who chooses to follow Satan, will. [Mat 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;] (emphases mine)

First of all, anyone who sins is going to hell UNLESS he accepts that Jesus' blood washed their sins away. Not just "major" sins like murder, even one lie will get you into hell without Jesus (Rev 21:27 [below]). It doesn't matter how earnestly you look for "god" and how many poems you write about "god"! You can be looking right at something and not accept it as truth.

The Truth is Jesus Christ. It's the act of accepting Jesus into your heart/life that gets you to heaven.

Some feel there are many paths to heaven. That God is a universal force, and all sorts of nonsense. Worshiping one god does not make you saved. The Egyptians eventually moved from a polytheistic society to a monotheistic one and worshiped only 1 god: Ra, the sun god. Is that the same as worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel? Is that being saved? NO.

The Bible says about the Book of Life:

Rev 21:27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

At the judgment throne of God this is the criteria for who will be in the book of life:
He who is righteous will be in the book of life:

Psa 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

Those who spread the gospel - i.e. spread the good news that Jesus Christ is our Savior:

Php 4:3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

He who overcomes the world (does not succumb to its deceptions) and who therefore is not a Christian in name only - i.e. a "carnal Christian":

Rev 3:5 `He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

He who has been washed by the blood of Jesus - who has more than his "good works" with which to defend himself at the throne of Judgment. Since we, and even our BEST deeds are as filthy rags to God, it won't be enough to save us from hell:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

NOT in the book of life:

Those who remain after the rapture, who are deceived by and worship the beast:

Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Rev 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

I know some people like Judas and Pharaoh probably will not make it; they were selected for the purposes of God to be who they were. Now that we know this; did God select entire cultures to be thrown into the lake of fire and a select few not to be?

There WERE Egyptians who believed, I was just reading about the 10 plagues in Egypt. They had a choice, as humanity as always had!

Are all the Jews from the time of Jesus gonners? If they are, what does it mean to be God's chosen people? Moses pleaded with God not to destroy them for His name sake; how would it look if he delivered them just to destroy them?

&

If God can save the Jews what are his limitations and if He is going to destry them where is His mercy?

God has NO limitations, but those are questions no one can answer, since He has not yet revealed their answers to us; however, we do know that Yahweh is a just and loving God, and perhaps He leaves that question unanswered in order to test OUR faith in His loving kindness!

Equally important is the fact that HE doesn't send anyone to damnation, it's man's choice. Punishment is so often built in to the curse. The verse that comes to mind is James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

I saw Zola Levitt mention in his testimony (watch online free) that his parents were not believers of Jesus, and he was quite peaceful about the fact. It was just a "by the way" at the end of a sentence, but I was impressed by his faith in God's love.

Conclusion:
We all have such questions, and we all have people whose salvation we are unsure of. Frankly we cannot be sure of anyone's heart decision for Christ except our own. When such questions of life arise, remember, the answers come from God's word. We must pick up the Bible (praying first that the Holy Spirit will show us truth, or guide us to peace about what we are seeking). He won't necessarily reveal it during that study session, but He WILL grant peace and show us the truth you are searching for.

I pray that you find peace about those who you fear are lost. We ALL have them in our lives. The most effective thing we can do for the world is to pray for their salvation. It is in prayer that we have the greatest power.