Avoiding dangerous assurance in the heavenly journey

AYODELE Awe’s book, Dangerous Assurance simply focuses on heaven; however, it expresses concern about how many people, including believers, now view heaven.

According to Awe, heaven is no longer real to many people, while some even consider it as a joke. In fact, some do not even know what it means or understand what it takes to get there.

The author laments that many people are carried away with religion, denomination, doctrines and activities, that they forget the core message of heaven.

“Some are deceived by their spiritual leaders, while others are living with the deity of self-development and determination, forgetting the foundational faith enshrined in the word of God. Many of these people may feel that they are on the right track, but they are not; their assurance is then dangerous.

Awe’s book, therefore, looks at certain views in the Bible to deal with the subject matter. In the first chapter, Peter’s Assurance, the author focuses on being over confident in one’s Christian walk.

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Here, the author looks at the Bible passage, Mathew 26: 30-35, where Jesus told Peter that he (Peter) would deny him three times before the cock crows. However, Peter said, “though I should with thee, yet will I deny thee.”

This passage reveals how confident Peter is on his loyalty to Jesus, that he said he would never deny his master. However, when Jesus was arrested and someone said Peter was among the disciples of Christ, He denied, not once, but three times as Jesus had predicted. It was after the third denial that the cock crowed and he realised he had sinned.

The author makes us understand that Christians need to re-examine themselves frequently while preparing for eternity.

He said anyone who has heaven as his focus must have clean hands, pure heart and must not lift his soul unto vanity, nor swear deceitfully.

The second chapter of the book, The Master’s View, highlights the promise of Jesus to go before us, meaning God has already seen all the challenges one will encounter in the Christian journey and challenges that we cannot bear will not come our way.

The last two chapters in the book, The Hypocrites and Financial Indiscipline also discuss two key subjects that are important in the race for the kingdom of God.

The author, therefore, does not want believers in Jesus Christ to compromise the standard of God. He says heaven is cheap to access if we comply with the word of God. The book will help one examine if one is in faith in God.

Awe, an evangelist, is the president of His Covenant Evangelical Mission.