We flew from Seattle to Minneapolis via Chicago, you actually go past Minneapolis and then back track to it again. In the course of the flight we crossed the American Rocky Mountains and it was the first time either of us had left the overall Pacific Basin that we had spent our lives in up untill that time.
Minneapolis / St Paul are twin cities in the extreme north and middle of the USA. They are quite cut off from other parts of the USA, and you could immediately sense the subtle differences in culture. We had a contact to meet up with in the centre of the academic area of Minneapolis, an area called Dinky Town where the main University of Minnesota campus is.
This man had contacted us through our web site and we were quite keen to see what God was doing in the area as he appeared to be involved, from what he wrote to us, in some sort of outreach.
We settled into the cheapest motel we could immediately locate, and organised ourselves on the local transport system via the Mall of America which was to be our main transport hub while we were based in the area.
As Minnesota can be absolutely covered in snow during the winter months, the malls are not like any thing you might find in Oceania! The Mall of America was the grand daddy of them all with a totally enclosed fully blown theme park right in the middle of the multi story shopping centre.
We were quite fascinated by it all.
There was even a Kiwi Beach Shop. So one day while passing through to catch a train, we had to go and see it. Turns out they had only chosen the name as it was a theme they liked and I don't know if they all even knew where New Zealand was! Only in America!
There was also a full blown Irish Shop. Reason being that there are a lot of Irish descendants and hence Roman Catholics in the area. As well as a lot of Lutherans. And this was to provide an interesting theme in our interactions with such believers as we were blessed to meet, especially in Dinky Town
It seems that there is a lot of compromising going on, with people trying to find common ground between their different traditions. And perhaps not looking fully to the teachings of the apostles recorded in the New Testament as the authoritative answer.
We were introduced to an Alpha Life Course video with the Alpha founder speaking on the bible. And in it we saw the 'believe in faith about Jesus' version of the gospel clearly portrayed.
The Alpha founder's father had passed on at some point, and had never even confessed the Name of Jesus. However the Alpha man believed that advertising bill boards and certain bible verses assured him that his father had gone to heaven and not to hell, because the verse that stood out to him was, that if you belive in your heart, and confess with your mouth (Romans 10) that Jesus is Lord you will be saved.
And obviously to him at least, as he was seeking the Lord over where his father had gone, this must in his mind have meant that his father was saved as he must have at least whispered the Name of the Lord Jesus before dying.
We found this to be at the very least, very disturbing.
For as the man's father had not ever even Named the Lord Jesus Christ, the only meaning on this message that could be put was that the Lord was confirming that the man had failed to meet even a most rudimentary requirement of Salvation.
Why any serious believer would want to belive that an obviously unsaved relative (no matter how close to them) had gone to heaven I can not comprehend, especially when the man appears to have this a central area of the 'faith about Jesus' that he is preaching, it is very dangerous.
I have come to simple terms that my father passed on and is now awaiting eternal judgement, having often in many circumstances refused the grace of God while alive. End of story. That is a central part of the gospel that we can not change to make ourselves feel better.
We should not treat God and His great Salvation and the cross, and sufferings of Christ so cheaply.
Does Scripture actually teach that even if someone mutters or whispers the name of Jesus on their death bed that they are automatically going to go to heaven? No it does not.
People pushing that idea normally come from traditional backgrounds connected with what is called reformation theology. Reformation theology was an attempt 500 years ago by people who perceived that the Roman Catholic Church had moved away from the plain teachings of Christ, to get back to some sense of what people should belive.
It is unfortunately a reaction against something and does not primary rely on the revelation of God Himself. Its proponents would say that they rely on the bible and that the bible is the revelation of God so that is good enough.
However the Bible itself records the Lord Jesus teaching that human flesh (clever academic or otherwise) is of no value, and only the things of the Holy Spirit matter.
The Lord Jesus said this ...
63It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
And also ..
39 You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me;
40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
41 I do not receive glory from men.
42 But I know that you have not the love of God within you.
43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
In Job the one man that was not rebuked by the Lord, Elihu, says this,
Job 32
6 ¶ So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said: "I am young in years, and you are old; that is why I was fearful, not daring to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
9 It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.
And even regarding truly knowing Who Jesus really is, the Lord Jesus said this to Peter one day ..."
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
In these quotes we have the essence of things that must even be avoided in knowing God. We can not rely on our own understanding or interpretation of things, we must keep ourselves seeking His Spirit's understanding and knowledge at all times. Even the most clever of men, of scholars or academics, can not know God through reason alone. Nor should they apply man's reasoning over the things of God!
In the example above where a person can just simply name the Name of the Lord Jesus, even on their death bed, and that act a lone is supposed to save them, lets look at what the Bible verse people use to support that idea really says.