🏴‍☠️ beginrescueend 🏴‍☠️

Scott Adams, 68, "Dilbert" creator, just passed away today from cancer. Praying for his family as they mourn his loss. Normally I wouldn't use this opportunity to correct poor theology, but I believe there's something sinister here in his final message that Christians to be aware of. Scott wrote, "I'm not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks attractive. So, here I go: I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior." This doesn't look harmful initially. How could it possibly be? There's two key reasons: 1. According to his wording, he went to Jesus for the wrong reasons. He came to Christ because of the "risk-reward calculation." He didn't want to risk the possibility of going to Hell and missing on Heaven. To put it bluntly, it appears that he didn't come to Jesus because he knew he was a sinner deserving of Hell, but rather because he wanted the benefits Jesus offers. I of course can't say this for certain, but this is what he appears to be saying. This isn't a small matter. Jesus rebuked people for doing this very thing: "Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). If you go to Jesus for anything other than Jesus himself, you won't truly be saved—even if you claim him as your Lord and Savior. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7:21). 2. This final message implies a damning lie: that repeating a phrase will get you to Heaven. Many people stake their eternity on the fact that they "prayed the prayer," or that they walked up to the altar on Easter Sunday years ago to "accept Jesus" even though nothing in their lives ever changed. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that that's how someone is saved. Only when someone genuinely repents of their sins and places their trust in Jesus alone can someone be saved (Luke 13:3; Acts 16:31). In other words, if someone doesn't authentically feel the weight of their sin against a holy God, grasp that their good deeds can never outweigh their bad deeds, and that the only way to be saved is sincerely placing your trust in the resurrected Christ, they're not going to Heaven. Not just writing words that you accept him, not merely acknowledging him with your lips, but authentically, on a soul level, clinging to Jesus with your whole heart because you recognize that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross and that only his perfect righteousness is enough to be in the presence of God. False conversions are real, and we don't talk about it enough. These are people who “profess to know God, but they deny him by their works” (Titus 1:16). In other words, a false convert is someone who thinks they’re saved, but has never truly been born again. I'm not saying Scott isn't in Heaven. There is an example of a death-bed salvation in the Bible with the thief on the cross, so it is certainly possible. But my concern is that like many, he "prayed the prayer" and "said the words" in the hopes of inheriting eternal life. And tragically, the Scriptures are clear: if this is the case, genuine salvation didn't take place. The new birth didn't occur. He will hear, "Depart from me." And perhaps more tragically, because of his final message, millions of people will think that it'd be wise for them to say they accept Jesus so that just in case he's real, they too will go to Heaven. But nothing could be further from the truth. This won't get them to Heaven. It'll get them to Hell. I pray Scott did truly become born again. And if you're reading this, you're alive, which means there's still hope for you. If you've ever told a lie, you're a liar. If you've ever stolen, you're a thief. If you've ever disrespected your parents, been selfish, or greedy, or gluttonous, or prideful, you have sinned against a holy God, and you're headed for Hell. But if you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus, the Son of God, who died on the cross to take God's punishment for sin in the place of all who trust in him and then rose again on the third day, you will be washed clean as snow. You will go to Heaven not because you're good, but because you have Jesus' perfect righteousness. Get right with God today. "Now is the day of salvation!" (2 Corinthians 6:2)