A surprise is awaiting Michael Bloomberg. In a recent interview he said that, because of his work to implement national gun control, stop smoking and fight obesity, “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close,” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/us/bloomberg-plans-a-50-million-challenge-to-the-nra.html?src=twr&_r=0
Mr. Bloomberg, God's Word has a few things to say on that subject.
First, your works mean nothing in the greater scheme of things: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment," Isaiah 64:6
Second, they earn you no special dispensation or favor with the God whose existence you only notionally acknowledge: "knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot," 1 Peter 1:18-19.
In fact, the Bible says that your billions, which you are now using to try to buy your way into Heaven, will be a witness against you: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you," James 5:1-6. This is not a statement against ALL wealth; there are certainly wealthy people who have used their fortunes for the glory of God.
Finally, you WILL stop to be "interviewed," and you WILL be forced to acknowledge the existence and supremacy of Yahweh: "For we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil," 2 Corinthians 5:10, "...For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God," Romans 14:10-12.
This is a warning AND an invitation, not just to Mr. Bloomberg, but to every person who has yet to come to the realization that they cannot do it on their own. We cannot buy or work our way into Heaven. What is our individual fortune in comparison to the One who owns it all in the first place? And what "righteousness" can we offer to the One who is the definition of holiness and righteousness? "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus," Romans 3:21-26.
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